Saturday, February 4, 2006

The Bush Administration said Thursday that it will request a Defense Department budget of US$439.3 billion for 2007. This is an increase of over 4%. This does not include a planned supplemental bill to fund ongoing actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The proposal’s details are still not final, but the budget that President Bush will submit next week will be for planning purposes. $2.3 billion of the budget will go to preparing for a bird flu epidemic.

Many weapons programs were tweaked but no major weapon system was cut. Funding for unmanned aircraft will be increased.