Gates urges cuts in big US weapons programmes

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday said his recommended military budget would "profoundly reform" military spending, calling for cuts to major weapons programmes such as F-22 fighter jets.

Gates said he was proposing canceling a new presidential helicopter, ending production of the F-22 Raptors and delaying ship building plans while bolstering funding for surveillance drones and other resources for counter-insurgency campaigns like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"If approved, these recommendations will profoundly reform how this department does business," Gates told a news conference.

The defense secretary said he had tried to balance the need to combat immediate threats poised by insurgents linked to terror networks, with more traditional threats associated with conventional warfare.

"Collectively, they (the recommendations) represent a budget crafted to reshape the priorities of America's defense establishment," he said.

The Pentagon chief said he recommended ending production for F-22 fighter jets, saying there was no need to greatly expand the aircraft fleet beyond already approved production of 187.

He also called for cutting a planned addition to land-based missile defense weaponry in Alaska and for scrapping a US Army vehicle that forms part of a hi-tech network known as Future Combat Systems (FCS).

Delays in ship building would mean that after 2040, the US fleet of aircraft carriers would drop to 10 ships instead of the usual 11 ships, Gates said.