Record-Breaking Pentagon Budget Plan Boosts High-Tech Weaponry

Feb. 6, 2006 — -- The Pentagon has unveiled a record budget request of $439.3 billion for the coming year, a 7 percent increase over last year's budget and the fifth year in a row the defense budget has increased. The increase will help fund new fighter jets, destroyers, hundreds of unmanned aircraft, as well as 14,000 additional Special Forces personnel seen as vital in fighting the war on terror. This year's budget seeks $84.2 billion for weapons programs, about an $8 billion increase.

Despite the big price tag, the budget request does not include funding for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the White House usually seeks from Congress in separate budget requests. Recently, the White House said it anticipates it will need an additional $120 billion to fund the war on terror for this calendar year -- $70 billion of that amount will be requested in two weeks time. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Pentagon calculates it has spent $251 billion on the war on terror.

Unveiling the budget, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steered reporters away from the "temptation in Washington to view everything in terms of winners and losers."

That said, it's clear some big-ticket weapons programs were winners in this year's budget process as they emerged unscathed from anticipated cuts in weapons programs that did not materialize.

The military's Special Operations Forces are definitely winners in this year's budget as their numbers will increase by 14,000 personnel, a 33 percent increase over current levels. Pentagon planners believe the Special Forces are vital to fighting future conflicts against terrorists and insurgencies.

This year's defense budget is a mix of programs for conventional war fighting as well as the Pentagon's focus on new "irregular conflicts" like the insurgency in Iraq. For example, there's a request for $3.3 billion to fund the Joint IED Task Force whose sole mission is to combat the roadside bomb, the biggest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. Pentagon officials said today they'd already spent $2 billion in the fight against IEDs and expect additional requests for funding.

Asked why there was still an emphasis in this year's budget for big-ticket items like the pricey F-22 fighter, Rumsfeld said there was a still a need to maintain weapons programs to serve as a deterrent against a conventional enemy. "They are not something that you can turn the switch on and off and have those capabilities," he said. "They take years to develop, to plan, to develop, to initiate, and finally to manufacture, produce, deploy, train and outfit units capable of using those capabilities."

Each of the services got some of the big weapons systems at the top of their wish lists.

Army: Humvees and Strykers

Though not directly funding the war in Iraq, the ongoing conflict is having an impact on the Defense Department's budget request. For example, the overall budget for Army combat and support vehicles is $3.8 billion -- that's almost double last year's request. The war in Iraq is also having an impact in other ways. The Army also seeks $580 million to pay for an additional 3,091 Humvees equipped with extra armor. The Humvees are the workhorses in Iraq.

Maligned before its deployment, the Stryker Combat Vehicle is now respected by U.S. troops in Iraq as a safe armored vehicle that protects them from their biggest nemesis, the roadside bomb. The Army wants an additional 100 Strykers at a cost of of $796 million. The wheeled armor vehicles were a departure for the Army when first proposed a few years back, and the additional Strykers will help stand up additional units.

With the high number of air operations in Iraq, the Army is also looking for some new helicopters. Last year, the Army didn't request any new Apache attack helicopters; this year they want 36 AH-64s at a total cost of almost $1 billion. More noteworthy is the request for 126 new helicopters including Chinooks, Blackhawks and Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters, as well as the new Light Utility Helicopter.

Navy: High-Tech Ships and a New Sub

The Navy gets some pricey new futuristic warships it's had its sights on for some time -- the new DDX stealth-like destroyer and Littoral Combat Ships, which will enable the Navy to fight close to shallow coastlines. It will cost the Navy $3.36 billion for the two DDX destroyers that can slip under enemy radars; it'll cost an additional $840 million to help build two of the Littoral ships next year.

Also included in this year's budget request, $1.17 billion for a new large-deck amphibious assault ship for the Marines, a combination helicopter/aircraft carrier. But the Navy didn't just score above water, as it also wants an additional Virginia Class attack submarine, to the tune of $2.6 billion.

Air Force: Jets and Unmanned Vehicles

The F-22 Raptor is the priciest fighter jet in history. The Pentagon wants 60 more of the supersonic stealth planes by 2010. This year's budget provides $2.7 billion just to get the ball rolling toward their construction in 2008. In the previous two years, the Air Force has received 49 of the new fighters, costing almost $9 billion. With the budget request, the original F-117 Stealth fighter will be phased out.

Not to be left undone, the next generation fighter known as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is also on the Air Force wish list. The plan is to provide each of the military services with their own versions of these pricey jets. This year's budget request seeks $5.2 billion to purchase 21 of the aircraft -- five for the Air Force and 16 for the Marines.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's) have proven to be extremely successful in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the Predator becoming a household word. This year's budget seeks $287 million for 26 more Predators. The Air Force also gets an additional $500 million for six Global Hawk UAV's; these continent-hopping, jet-powered drones will replace the heralded U-2 as the reliable Cold War relic is finally phased out.

Pay and Health Care

This year's budget boosts military pay by 2.2 percent, the smallest boost in almost a dozen years. Yet, as Pentagon officials noted today, military pay has increased almost 30 percent since 9/11 as efforts have been made to make military pay comparable to civilian pay.

There are some changes to the military's health care system, Tricare, that may not survive the congressional budget process -- most notably a proposal to raise fees on some better-off military retirees enrolled in the program. Pentagon officials rolling out today's budget say the restructuring won't affect health care for active-duty forces, but that the change is needed to help offset their rising costs. Today, the cost share of health insurance for the Defense Department is 88 percent while beneficiaries only pay 12 percent.