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Pentagon to Cut $60 Billion over Six Years

Posted December. 31, 2004 22:57,   

한국어

The U.S. Pentagon drew up a plan to reduce its defense budget by $60 billion over the next six years, according to the N.Y. Times on December 30, 2004.

The Pentagon is to reduce $10 billion in the budget for the fiscal year of 2006 (October 1, 2005 - September 30, 2006) alone, the paper reported.

Under a Pentagon proposal, the Navy would retire the USS John F. Kennedy carrier and reduce the number of new LPD-17 San Antonio-class amphibious landing ships while delaying the purchase of a new Navy destroyer.

The Army is suggesting postponing the purchase of the $120 billion system that allows soldiers on the ground to contact carriers or military vehicles through hand-held computers.

The plan also included sharply reducing the program for the Air Force`s F/A-22 fighters, the most expensive fighter jets in history that are scheduled to be put into production this year.

Since the November presidential election of 2004, the White House has been undergoing painstaking measures to curtail increasing deficits and at the same time pay for the costs of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which surpasses $5 billion each month.

The proposed cut in the defense budget is the first since the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. Since then, the Pentagon’s spending rose 41 percent to mount to $420 billion this year.



Soon-Taek Kwon aypole@donga.com