The U.S. government plans to spend over 2 billion U.S. dollars next year to begin a two-decade effort to improve the U.S. military's ability to strike targets around the globe with conventional weapons, The Defense News website reported Wednesday.

The money will go toward new aircraft, weapons and intelligence and surveillance systems, according to the report.

"We have to move to do those strikes in near-real time. We need a new bomber...with longer range and a bigger payload," U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley was quoted as saying.

He said other possible options include unmanned strike aircraft and space-based platforms.

The deep strike program, which will eventually involve the U.S. navy and the air force, is included in the 439.3-billion-dollar defense budget plan for fiscal year 2007 starting Oct. 1 this year, which the Bush administration submitted to the Congress on Monday.

The proposed budget moves long-range strike substantially higher on the Pentagon's list of priorities.

Deep strike capabilities which had originally planned to be fielded by 2037 now are to be operational by 2018.

The U.S. military's sense of urgency about global strike capabilities was conveyed in the Feb. 3 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which helps shape the 2007 budget.

By 2025, the QDR says, the U.S. air force should improve its long-range strike capabilities by 50 percent-- including a fivefold increase in the ability to penetrate hardened targets-- and that 35 percent of those strike forces should be unmanned.

Source: Xinhua