Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
The future of US defense spending
Aerospace | Technology
January 24, 2023 – The latest Future Years Defense Plan by the US Department of Defense provides insight about spending trends related to specific technologies, say partner Eric Chewning and coauthors. Air platforms, air and missile defense systems, and space and space-based systems are among the areas receiving the greatest portion of funding for defense tech innovation through 2027. Other areas such as readiness and logistics will receive a smaller share of funding.
To read the article, see “How will US funding for defense technology innovation evolve?,” November 4, 2022.
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Visual form
Stacked bar chart.
Layout / body structure
The page uses a single ranked comparison of defense-technology categories, with the main bars centered on the page and the explanatory note below. The reading order is category by category, moving across the chart to compare which areas capture more of the planned funding.
What is being compared
It compares defense-technology spending priorities across major domains such as air platforms, air and missile defense, space and space-based systems, readiness, and logistics.
Measurement system
The measurement is defense spending allocated through the Future Years Defense Plan, so the reader is tracking relative funding scale by technology area. The bars and labels carry the comparison, even where the exact dollar labels are less prominent than the ranking itself.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The internal structure is built from category bars arranged so the larger spending areas stand out immediately. The chart uses the category labels to separate the domains and the bar lengths or stacks to show their relative share of planned innovation funding.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart makes future defense-tech investment look concentrated rather than evenly spread. Air-related systems and space sit at the top end of the ranking, while readiness and logistics read as lower-priority destinations for innovation spending.
Key standout values or extremes
The strongest visual emphasis falls on air platforms, air and missile defense systems, and space or space-based systems as the highest-funded areas through 2027. Readiness and logistics sit at the smaller end of the comparison.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.