Major arms soar to twice pre-9/11 cost

Washington, Aug 20 (UNI) The estimated costs for the development of major weapon systems for the US military have doubled since September 11, 2001, with new planes, ships, and missiles coming with a trillion-dollar price tag.

However, these have no direct role in the fight against insurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The soaring cost estimates -- disclosed in a report for the Republican-led Senate Budget Committee -- have led to concerns that supporters of multi billion-dollar weapons programmes in the Congress, the Pentagon, and the defence industry are using the war on terror to fulfill a wish list of defence expenditures, whether they are needed or not for the war on terrorism.

The report, based on Defense Department data, concluded that the best way to keep defence spending in check in the coming years is in ''controlling the cost of weaponry'', especially those programmes that the Pentagon might not need.

The projections of what it will cost to acquire ''major weapons programmes'' currently in production soared from 790 billion dollars in September 2001 to 1.61 trillion dollars in June 2006, according to the congressional analysis of Pentagon data.

Costs for some of the most expensive new weapon systems -- such as satellite-linked combat vehicles for ground troops; a next-generation fighter plane and a cutting-edge, stealth-technology destroyer for the Navy -- are predicted to cost even more by the time they are delivered, because many of them are still in their early phases.

In a quarterly report to the Congress on weapons costs earlier this month, the Pentagon reported that out of the 1.61 trillion dollar it thinks it will need for big-ticket weapons, it has already spent more than half so far -- about 909 billion dollars.

This huge increase in weapons costs is already placing enormous strain on the federal budget, according to government budget specialists, who predict major increases in defence spending for years to come so that the Pentagon can afford all the weapons it has on the books.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, for example, estimates that between 2012 and 2024 the Pentagon budget will have to grow between 18 per cent and 34 per cent over what was appropriated this year.

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