Defense budget boosts funding for modernization programs

The Pentagon's $401.7 billion spending proposal for fiscal 2005 calls for a 7 percent increase in defense spending overall, and is consistent with its plans to boost military funding to $487.7 billion by fiscal 2009, a funding level that rivals Cold War spending at its peak.

The proposal adds money for modernization programs -- those that outwardly demonstrate Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vision of a military transformed for the 21st century -- while continuing to fund the bulk of its legacy systems. But it does not include money to pay for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon officials cited difficulty in projecting funding needs for Iraq prior to the anticipated transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people this summer. As a result, the administration intends to pay for ongoing operations with the $87 billion wartime supplemental spending package approved by lawmakers last fall.

In January, the Pentagon is expected to rely on yet another emergency supplemental -- estimated by budget analysts at upwards of $50 billion -- to continue funding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2005.

The fiscal 2005 budget request includes $163 million to buy 818 armored Humvees, and another $140.7 million to purchase 1,613 other variants of the Army's wheeled personnel carrier. Humvees are a critical support asset for soldiers, even though they tend to break down in harsh desert environments. The Pentagon came under fire from lawmakers last year for not providing enough of the vehicles for military action in Iraq.

The Army will also get $3.2 billion to develop its next generation of combat vehicles, dubbed the Future Combat System. The new program is intended to modernize the Army in step with Rumsfeld's military transformation goals, incorporating a mix of lighter, leaner ground and air vehicles networked through a series of sophisticated sensors and communications gear.

The Navy portion of the budget includes close to $2 billion in research and development money to fund the lead ships for its two new surface combatant programs. The Littoral Combat Ship and the DD(X) destroyer are designed to improve the Navy's ability to quickly deploy and fight adversaries closer to shore.

The budget also calls for roughly $4.5 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, though the Pentagon plans to delay the start of production for one year because of cost overruns and schedule delays attributed in part to weight and design problems. The new schedule means the 10-year development phase of the tri-service fighter would cost $7.5 billion more than planned, running the price tag up to $40.5 billion.

The Air Force's other next-generation fighter -- the F/A-22, currently in low-rate initial production, would get $4.15 billion to pay for 24 of the supersonic stealth planes, an increase above the 22 aircraft requested in fiscal 2004.

The Pentagon also requested about $1.3 billion to purchase 11 V-22 Osprey aircraft in fiscal 2005. The Osprey suffered two high-profile crashes in 2000 that killed 23 Marines. Despite the fatal crashes, cost overruns and testing woes, analysts say the budget proposal suggests things are looking up for the tiltrotor aircraft. Late last year, Defense Department investigators began probing Osprey contractor Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth, Texas, after a whistleblower suit accused the company of delivering aircraft with faulty hydraulic parts.

The fiscal 2005 budget proposal asks for a 13 percent increase in ballistic missile defense programs. That $1.2 billion increase would raise the total spent to $10.2 billion from fiscal 2004. The administration's budget plan, delivered to Congress Monday, calls for $9.1 billion in spending for the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency, an increase above the $7.6 billion requested last year.

The plan to deploy a rudimentary missile defense system later this year has been hotly contested by lawmakers who are concerned that the system has not been adequately tested. But the Pentagon's long-range plans would increase spending in fiscal 2005 and fiscsal 2006 in an effort to deploy as many as 30 land- and sea-based missile interceptors by the end of 2005.

In addition to missile defense funding, the administration's budget proposal asks lawmakers for $68.9 billion in research and development, which would be a record-setting level of spending. The proposal also calls for $74.9 billion in procurement funding to buy weapons and military equipment, a slight decrease from funding levels projected last year. The decrease was attributed to a shift in funding between the Pentagon's investment coffers and research and development funding associated with the Navy's two new surface combatant programs, according to a senior Defense Department official.