Still, the weapons request is $7 billion less than the $120.3 billion in base budget procurement the Pentagon had forecast last year for fiscal 2012. The reductions were part of an overall $13 billion in fiscal 2012 cuts the Office of Management and Budget imposed on the Pentagon for deficit reduction.
“What this says is that the increase in procurement spending the Pentagon had projected will not materialize,” said Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst for the non-partisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
“It’s a steep reduction -- about 8.5 percent in real terms -- from what they were previously predicting,” Harrison said.
Additional delays on the F-35 program “and pressure in Congress to reduce government spending are all taking their toll on procurement accounts,” Harrison said.