Biotech Takes Center Stage in U.S. Defense Policy for 2026

A quiet revolution is underway in Washington’s defense planning: biotechnology is emerging as a core strategic priority. In a legislative cycle dominated by debates on Ukraine and fiscal constraints, both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have approved sweeping new measures to integrate biotechnology into the U.S. military’s supply chains and procurement systems. The House version of the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes eight major biotech provisions, while the Senate bill adds four more, along with $25 million in dedicated research funding and a further $137 million for infrastructure at the Navy’s biomolecular lab. This reflects growing bipartisan consensus that biomanufacturing—producing materials through biological rather than petrochemical processes—has enormous untapped potential for defense applications.

One of the most transformative elements in the Senate bill is the creation of a Biotechnology Management Office within the Department of Defense. This office will be tasked with overseeing a new department-wide strategy for biotech integration, aligning research, deployment, and ethical oversight across services. Notably, both bills require the Pentagon to issue guidelines for “ethical and responsible development and deployment” of such technologies. Meanwhile, the House version includes provisions to eliminate regulatory roadblocks that prevent biologically-produced materials from being used in military procurement, a critical step in moving promising lab breakthroughs toward large-scale deployment. Collectively, these reforms signal a structural commitment to treating biotech not as a niche domain but as a foundational element of future U.S. military power.

This policy momentum closely follows recommendations made in April by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NCSEB), a bipartisan advisory body established by Congress. NCSEB leaders like Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Todd Young have argued forcefully that biotech is more than a medical or pharmaceutical issue—it’s a matter of strategic autonomy. NCSEB’s executive director Caitlin Frazer highlighted that biological processes can be used to manufacture a wide range of industrial materials, from anti-corrosion coatings to lightweight explosives. These innovations offer a pathway to replace materials currently sourced from adversarial nations, reduce the carbon footprint of defense production, and shorten supply chains vulnerable to disruption. As Frazer put it, “It’s not just a health technology. It’s going to fundamentally transform our defense supply chains.”

At the heart of this transformation is the concept of biomanufacturing: the use of engineered microbes in controlled environments to produce useful substances, bypassing traditional, energy-intensive chemical production. The Pentagon is especially focused on scaling up lab-proven biotechnologies to the industrial level—a leap that often stalls due to outdated military specifications and procurement rules. One of the key House provisions aims to modernize these requirements, enabling the integration of biologically-derived components into weapons systems and supply networks. Advocates say this could open the door to defense startups and laboratories already pioneering solutions in materials science, energy storage, and even new forms of propulsion. “There are amazing innovations happening,” Frazer said, “but the challenge is pulling those through the Technology Readiness Levels fast enough to make a real impact.”

The next step will be implementation. Both chambers’ NDAA versions reflect shared goals but differ in scope and detail. As the legislative process moves toward conference negotiations, biotech advocates are confident that the core elements will survive. If so, FY2026 could mark a turning point—ushering in a more adaptive, sustainable, and strategically independent defense industrial base. With U.S. competitors like China investing heavily in similar areas, the stakes are high. As the Pentagon’s interest in “next-gen” technologies continues to shift from silicon and steel to cells and enzymes, the emergence of biotech as a core component of military readiness may be one of the most consequential, if underappreciated, developments in the future of national defense.

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Biotech boosters win big in both HASC, SASC defense policy bills for FY26