Funding Weapons against the Last Century's Enemies

Muscular Defense Plan Buoys Contractors Proposed Budget Would Benefit Area Companies

By Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, February 11, 2008; D01

A run of healthy profits for defense contractors that has lasted nearly a decade will continue for at least another year, analysts and company executives said after the Bush administration last week submitted its new defense budget.

The $515.4 billion defense spending proposal for fiscal 2009 is 7.5 percent higher than the current year's and promises to fund some of the armed forces' largest and most costly weapons programs. It includes $104.2 billion for weapons procurement and nearly $80 billion for research and development, testing and evaluation.

. . . The Army's Future Combat Systems, a program that will use a wireless network to connect battlefield equipment overseen by SAIC and Boeing, would get $3.56 billion. And the White House asked for more than $21 billion for space and missile-defense initiatives, areas where Boe…