Bush administration seeks to boost defence spending to $400bn

THE Bush administration will ask Congress to boost spending on missile defence by $1.2 billion next year and nearly double funding to modernise the army in the $401.7bn US military budget for 2005, according to Pentagon documents released yesterday.

The defence plan is part of a proposed $2.3 trillion federal budget President Bush will send to lawmakers on Monday. It includes a 7% increase in defence spending over the current level of $375bn.

The Pentagon said the defence budget documents scheduled to be formally released on Monday with the president's overall budget were inadvertently posted on the internet yesterday morning. They were later removed.

The administration seeks to boost funding for its controversial missile defence programme by 13% to $10.2bn next year from $9bn requested for the fiscal year 2004.

The new figure includes spending by the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency of $9.1bn in 2005, up from $7.6bn, as well as the army's Patriot missile programme.

The Pentagon's plan to begin deploying the initial parts of a missile defence shield by September has drawn sharp criticism from some American allies and Democrats who say it has not been adequately tested and could spark an arms race in space.

The budget also calls for $3.2bn for the Army's Future Combat System, a hi-tech plan to make soldiers more mobile and lethal in the post-Cold War world. That is up from $1.7bn in the current year.

The military plans to spend $74.9bn to buy weapons and other equipment in the 2005 fiscal year, starting October 1.

For this year, the Pentagon asked Congress for $72.5bn, but actual spending on weapons systems rose to $81bn due to extra war-related spending approved by lawmakers.

The defence budget does not include up to $40bn or more in supplemental spending for military operations in Iraq, which congressional sources and analysts say the White House could seek from Congress late this year or early next year.

The budget calls for almost $4.6bn for Lockheed Martin Corporation's Joint Strike Fighter, or F-35, up from $4.25bn requested in 2004.