The Defense Department expects to cover the costs of the war with a 62 billion dollar boost in its 2003 budget approved by Congress, said Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim.

"The war has cost in the region of about 20 billion so far, actually over that," he said.

That amount includes more than 10 billion dollars for military operations, three billion dollars for munitions and the rest to maintain and support a force of some 300,000 troops in the region, he said.

It also includes 1.4 billion dollars to repay allies such as Pakistan and Jordan for assistance to US forces.

The costs tracked with Pentagon estimates, which were based on an expectation that the war would be intense but relatively brief, he said.

"A rough estimate of the monthly costs of the war from here on out -- and obviously not the same degree of intensity -- ... is approximately two billion dollars a month," he said.

The 62 billion dollars was the Defense Department's share of an almost 80 billion dollar supplemental appropriation that President George W. Bush signed Wednesday at the White House.

"Right now as we are looking at, we believe the 62 billion is going to go a very, very long way to the end of the fiscal year," he said.

SPACE.WIRE