Pentagon Seeks Nearly $500 Billion for 2008 Defense Budget
06 February 2007
Supplemental 2007 funds for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan also requested
Washington – The Defense Department has submitted a $481.4 billion request to Congress to support operations around the world and in cyberspace for the fiscal year beginning October 1 (FY08).
Actual defense spending will be substantially larger as the request also includes a second 2007 supplemental request of $93.4 billion to cover military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan so the military services do not run out of money by April. An earlier supplemental request was granted by Congress for $70 billion.
The Pentagon also estimates it will need an additional $141.7 billion in 2008 to continue sustaining military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the global war on terrorism, with nearly $40 billion of the sum earmarked for replacing or repairing equipment destroyed or damaged in combat.
Iraq and Afghanistan are central to the U.S. counterterrorism strategy, with a request for $2 billion to help Iraqi forces become self-reliant and $2.7 billion for Afghan security force improvements. Around $20 billion is being sought to defeat or protect against roadside bombs.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon February 5 the new budget makes needed strategic investments, improves military readiness, recalibrates deployments overseas, and funds anti-terrorism operations not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but “elsewhere in the ongoing campaign against violent jihadist networks around the globe.”
He said the defense budget should be funded “at the level to adequately meet the challenges of the global strategic environment the United States faces today.”
PROCUREMENT
More than a third of the new budget is set aside for strategic modernization to develop future combat capabilities and equipment. The Pentagon plans to spend $176.8 billion to give the Navy eight more vessels, including three new combat ships and a new generation aircraft carrier; buy more aircraft, such as the Joint Strike Fighter; supply the Army with new combat vehicles; and invest further in the successful use of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles.
This year’s Missile Defense Agency request accounts for almost $9 billion to improve existing land- and sea-based missile defense systems and develop new ones.
GREATER MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS
The Army and the Marine Corps will see active duty manpower levels increase by 92,000 over the next four fiscal years. The Army will grow by 65,000 from 482,400 to 547,400 soldiers in 2012, allowing the number of brigade combat teams to increase from 42 to 48.
The Marine Corps will be able to complete its 3rd Expeditionary Force by 2011 by adding 27,000 Marines, growing from a force level of 175,000 to 200,000 soldiers.
2007 SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST
The 2007 supplemental request would allocate $3.8 billion to help train and equip Iraqi security forces as the size of the force grows from 328,000 to 362,000 members. It also would bolster Iraq’s Air Force counterinsurgency capabilities and strengthen the Iraqi navy’s ability to conduct patrols. (See related article.)
Nearly $6 billion is sought to support Afghan security forces by speeding up the development of the Afghan national army and police. Some of this money would also be used for training and equipping Afghan security forces, which will grow to around 152,000 members by the end of the fiscal year. (See related article.)
The 2007 supplemental request calls for spending $10.4 billion to field advanced technology and protection against deadly improvised explosive devices that have been used by hostile forces in Iraq, and, more recently in Afghanistan. It will fund a special task force to look at gear such as a new generation of protective body suits.
The full transcript of the briefing is available on the Defense Department Web site.
For more information on U.S. policies, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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