McCain: Pentagon spending 'unsustainable'

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Republican Sen. John McCain Tuesday said the massive Pentagon budget for the war in Iraq can't be sustained because of the need to replace weapons.

"We have unsustainable defense spending," said McCain, a chief proponent of military acquisition reform. "Refurbishment or replacement sooner than planned is putting further pressure on DOD's investment accounts. We cannot sustain the number of weapons programs that are in the program of record."

The Arizona Republican said the Defense Department spent $291 billion on the top five weapons systems in 2000 but the top five weapons systems in 2005 cost nearly $550 billion. One of those top five systems, the FA-22, has seen unit costs increase almost 190 percent," he said.

The Pentagon's budget for 2006 was $441 billion with a $50 billion fund to pay for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, which cost a combined $5.5 billion a month.