Proactive Pentagon officials are preparing lists of weapons to discard in anticipation of cuts suggested by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier this week he would welcome Elon Musk and DOGE auditing the Department of Defense.
Democrats have expressed anger at Musk and DOGE, which President Donald Trump has tasked with focusing on streamlining the bureaucracy and reducing spending, probing various federal departments.
While two federal judges consider Friday whether DOGE will have access to Treasury Department payment systems and potentially sensitive data at U.S. health, consumer protection and labor agencies, Defense officials were preparing to see Musk's staffers at the Defense Department.
"People are offering up things sacrificially, hoping that will prevent more cuts," one defense official said, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Drones and vehicles that have been produced in surplus – which could add up to billions of dollars in savings – have been added to an Army list of potential cuts.
"We're taking a proactive approach to making our spending more efficient," Army spokesman Col. Dave Butler said, the Journal reported. "There are several systems that we know won't survive on the modern battlefield."
The Navy is proposing cuts to its frigates and littoral combat ships, the outlet said. As for the Air Force, Musk previously has taken aim at the service's F-35 stealth jet fighters.
Suggested cuts likely will draw widespread criticism since bases and large military weapons are built across several states and affect local economies.
DOGE has not yet tackled a budget as large and complex as the one at Defense, which employs three million troops and civilians and has a budget in excess of $800 billion.
Defense spending, which accounts for at least 12% of the $6.75 trillion federal budget, has grown steadily since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It was in the permissive post-9/11 environment that we saw a whole slew of ill-conceived weapons programs," Dan Grazier, senior fellow and director of the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, told the Journal. "Now we are seeing the results — failed program after failed program."
The Pentagon's contracts include some worth billions of dollars with Musk companies such as SpaceX and its Starlink.
Reuters contributed to this story.