eDefense Offers FY 2006 US Defense Budget Highlights

eDefense Online covers a number of highlights from the USA’s FY 2006 defense appropriations law H.R. 2863.ENR, now Public Law #109-148. eDefense Online writes: “In the end, the US House of Representative and US Senate agreed to authorize $491.5 billion in defense spending for 2006, including $50 billion for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the “global war on terrorism,” which President George W. Bush signed into law on Dec. 30 without much ceremony. The $441.9 billion approved for defense programs is $20.9 billion higher than last year’s budget… Spending levels set for various services and their material procurement include, for the Army, $2.8 billion for aircraft and $1.3 billion for missiles; for the Navy, $9.9 billion for aircraft and $2.7 billion for various weapons; and for the US Air Force (USAF), $13.2 billion for aircraft and $5.5 billion for missiles. But the spending bill’s references to individual programs are perhaps more revealing, reflecting the culmination of debates over the past year on how the US military’s force structure should be shaped in the future, as well as whether it is adequately equipped to perform the kind of operations presently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan…