The United States spent at least $168 million hitting Libya’s air defense systems with Raytheon Co. Tomahawk cruise missiles and Northrop Grumman Co. B-2 bombers to open air space over the North African nation, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To pay for the mission, the U.S. Defense Department is expected to tap its operations and maintenance budget and avoid using funds slated for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to defense analysts and former congressional aides/.../
“The money, for the time being, would come out of the regular operations and maintenance accounts,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a research organization in Washington that studies national security and military issues. “They always build in a little money for contingencies.”