Soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct a patrol in Zabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 30. A proposed increase to the DoD budget will in part go towards brigade combat team modernization.DoD to add $100B to 2011-15 spendingBy Vago Muradian - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 11, 2009 18:19:47 EST
The Obama administration will add $100 billion to the Pentagon’s 2011-’15 spending plan to cover the rising cost of operations, personnel and pressing modernization needs, officials said.
If approved by Congress, the money would allow U.S. defense spending to rise about 1 percent above projected inflation, analysts said.
The Pentagon’s 2010 budget request called for $534 billion, plus $130 billion to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It did not include the estimated $30 billion that will be needed to fund President Barack Obama’s recent decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.Nor did the 2010 spending plan contain the customary five-year spending outlook, although the new Obama administration had in January pledged annual defense spending of about $540 billion, plus inflation, plus $50 billion for operations.
Among other procurement efforts, the money will pay for new Air Force global strike programs — including work on new manned and unmanned systems — Army brigade combat team modernization, a Navy attack submarine, and the Navy’s new Carrier Long-Range Strike system, sources said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/defense_budget_121109/unhappycamper comment: So the occupations will cost $130 billion in 2010? If it costs $100 billion to keep 100,000 boots on the ground in Afghanistan does this mean the Iraq occupation is limited to $30 billion dollars in 2010? What happens if the Iraq occupation costs more than $30 billion dollars in 2010?
In other new$, Virginia-class subs now cost $2.8 billion a pop and the new Ford-class aircraft carrier is $11.5 billion sans people and airplanes.