Traditional warfare remains focus of weapons budget

Reflecting the Bush administration's belief that the military still must be prepared to fight national armies even as it wages "the long war" on terrorism, its $439.3 billion fiscal 2007 Defense budget focuses heavily on expensive weapons systems that were in development long before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Across the board, Defense Department research, development and procurement accounts received a $10.2 billion boost over 2006 appropriations, with much of that money poured into programs designed to fight traditional wars against enemy states rather than terrorists and other unpredictable threats outside the control of national governments.

When they unveiled their budget Monday, Pentagon leaders explained they must continue to pay for the long-term programs, some of which date back to the Cold War, to continue the U.S. military's dominance in the realm of traditional warfare.

"We have been very successful in deterring the threat from large armies, navies and air forces," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "On the other hand, those threats haven't disappeared, and the kinds of capabilities that are necessary to continue to see that they are deterred and dissuaded require investments, and they are not something that you can turn the switch on and off and have those capabilities."

For instance, the decades-old missile defense program, the largest system on the Pentagon books and a perennial Democratic target for substantial cuts, received a $1.7 billion increase to $10.4 billion in 2007. And the Air Force's Joint Strike Fighter, designed to fight air-to-ground threats, also emerged a big winner, with $3.1 billion requested in 2007, a 23 percent increase over this year's funding level.

The Air Force's other big modernization program, the F/A-22 Raptor fighter jet, would be funded at $2.9 billion, a $1.4 billion decrease from 2006. But Pentagon leaders have decided to extend production by two years and increase the number of purchases by four jets.

Meanwhile, the Navy's long-time shipbuilding programs -- including nuclear submarines and the next-generation destroyer -- were safeguarded, with $11.2 billion in the budget. That would allow the Navy to buy 2 DD(X) destroyers and a Virginia-class submarine, plus two low-cost Littoral Combat Ships and an amphibious assault and logistics ship.

The Pentagon also wants to increase the budget for the Army's core technology transformation program, the Future Combat Systems, by $500 million to $3.7 billion. Congress has long had its eye on the sprawling program, whose price tag has almost doubled in the last year.

"There are no tough choices here with respect to the modernization program," said Gordon Adams, former Office of Management and Budget associate director for national security programs. "This is only half the budget. The other piece is that $70 billion piece they haven't served up yet."

Indeed, Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas said Monday she expects to send a $70 billion supplemental request to Congress in the next two weeks. That money, covering personnel and operational costs related to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as equipment repair and replacement, would bring the Defense Department's total 2006 wartime spending account to $120 billion.

But one of the largest individual pieces of the supplemental, the Army's so-called modularity force transformation program, will now be paid out of the base budget, Pentagon officials said. The Army requested $6.6 billion in 2007 to transform into a more mobile, brigade-based force.

And while the major procurement programs that date back to the 1990s or earlier still dominate the budget, Pentagon officials insist the budget balances the need to fight both regular and irregular enemies.

"It's a budget that gives warfighters the tools needed to sustain our traditional war fighting while we enhance irregular warfare capabilities against the asymmetric threats like we face in the global war on terror," said Vice Adm. Evan Chanik, Joint Staff director of force structure, resources and assessment.

The budget includes $5.1 billion for special operations -- a $1 billion increase over last year's appropriation that will help the military expand its special operations forces by 14,000 troops by 2011, a key component of the Quadrennial Defense Review released last Friday.

Additionally, the Defense Department plans to buy 322 new unmanned aerial vehicles over the next several years to increase intelligence-gathering and surveillance, another central feature of the four-year review. The 2007 request includes $1.7 billion for UAVs, with an $11.6 billion investment expected over the next five years.