Washington: Pentagon spending on major weapons systems has rocketed to 1.6 trillion dollars, a two-decade high, with programmes going over budget and falling behind schedule, a government audit found.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said 72 programmes, ranging from fighter jets to combat ships and satellites, were over budget by 295 billion dollars in 2007 and behind schedule by an average of 21 months. The spending on new weaponry continued to rise despite funding competition from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a decline in discretionary spending in other areas of the US government budget, the GAO said.

Defense Department (DOD) investment in weapons systems doubled from 790 billion dollars in 2000 to 1.6 trillion dollars last year, the GAO said in its sixth annual report on the department's acquisitions programme. While acquisition costs were six per cent higher than original estimates in 2000,they were 26 per cent higher last year, the report said.

Moreover, research and development costs were 40 per cent over budget in 2007. The cost overruns will be difficult to sustain as the weapons programmes face stiff competition for funds from the wars as well as non-military programmes such as social security, the GAO said.

The Pentagon plans to invest about 900 million dollars over the next five years on development and procurement, including more than 335 billion dollars, or 37 per cent, for new major weapon systems, the report said.

Source : PTI