House and Senate negotiators agreed late Wednesday on the spending plan, which if approved will fund procurement of new fast-deploying armor, transport and fighter aircraft, and intelligence gathering systems.

The defense appropriations bill appears set to be the first of 13 budget bills to pass Congress in what would be a timely show of political solidarity as the administration presses for action against Iraq.

"This nation must have, will have ready forces that can bring victory to our country and safety to our people," said Representative Sue Myrick, a North Carolina Republican.

The House voted 409-14 in favor of a bill that would increase defense spending by 37.5 billion dollars over 2002, lifting the military budget to 355.1 billion dollars. A Senate vote is needed to pass the bill.

The bill does not include a 10 billion dollar special contingency fund sought by the administration -- 1.6 billion dollars less than requested.

But it reflects the Pentagon's efforts to make its forces agile enough to respond quickly to crises anywhere in the world, and also to replenish drones and precision guided munitions that saw heavy use in the Afghan campaign.

It budgets 770 million dollars for Joint Direct Attack Munitions -- the cheap, satellite-guided bombs that produced devastating results in Afghanistan -- and another 247 million for sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Adding money to the administration's request, the appropriators earmarked 131 million dollars for 22 new Predator unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, one of the stars of the Afghan campaign.

Also included is 129 million for three new Global Hawks, a high-flying, long-endurance unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that made its combat debut in Afghanistan, along with money for a naval variant.

Though the amounts are classified, spending on intelligence generally was another big winner in the budget sweepstakes.

President George W. Bush had requested the biggest one-year increase in more than two decades for his national foreign intelligence program. The House and Senate negotiators topped that by adding an undisclosed sum to the president's request.

If the spending plan is approved, big money also will go for programs designed to get US forces to distant battlefields.

The bill approves 3.3 billion dollars for 15 C-17 transport aircraft, and approved a request for future procurement of 40 C-130J transport planes for the air force and 24 KC-130J air refueling planes for the marine.

It provides 788 million dollars to procure the Stryker, a wheeled armored vehicle at the center of efforts for a more mobile army.

The army also would get 251 million dollars for its Future Combat System.

Missile defense, once one of the most contentious defense programs, drew little fire this year -- 7.4 billion dollars were approved, just 43 million less than Bush requested.

In a reflection of real-world priorities, they added funds to theater missile defense programs designed to protect US forces overseas.

They authorized 672 million dollars for the Patriot PAC-3, an increase of 50 million dollars over the president's request, and 136 million dollars for the Arrow program, an increase of 70 million dollars.

The Arrow is a US-Israeli theater missile defense system that that the Israelis are relying on defend it against Iraqi Scud attacks.

The bill also approves a 17-percent increase in funding for the Defense Advanced Projects Agency, the Pentagon's cutting-edge weapons research arm.

It also added 34 million dollars to the administration's request for funding for an effort focused on "unconventional nuclear threats" and another 25 million dollars for defenses against chemical and biological attacks.

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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