June 21 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House last night approved a fiscal 2006 defense budget totaling $408 billion, including $45 billion to fund combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bill appropriates about $3.3 billion less than the administration sought but $11 billion or about 3 percent more than current spending. It includes $76.8 billion for weapons procurement, $171 million than requested, and $71.7 billion for research, about $2.3 billion more than sought.

The funding approved will give troops ``the equipment and the technology necessary to accomplish their mission and to protect themselves while they do that,'' C.W. ``Bill'' Young of Florida, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, said today on the House floor.

The administration's proposed budget didn't include the funding for Afghanistan and Iraq, which has been handled through supplemental budgets. The House added the money out of concern that Iraq expenses would run out before additional supplemental funding is requested and approved.

The budget, approved by a vote of 398-19, ends a $4 billion Lockheed Martin Corp. cruise missile program because of repeated failures in test flights. It was the only major weapons program terminated in the chamber's $408 billion defense budget for fiscal 2006.

The budget doesn't include money for military health care, family housing allowances, construction and the weapons-related activities of the Energy Department. That money will be appropriated in separate legislation.

The Senate has not finished its version of the bill. The two chambers will negotiate a compromise measure later this year.

The $45 billion for combat operations is in addition to an expected fiscal 2006 supplemental spending bill that will include at least $2.8 billion to replace combat equipment lost in Iraq and Afghanistan and $1.2 billion for additional body armor and other protective equipment.

Ground Systems

The House cut $449 million from the Army's request for $3.4 billion for the Boeing Co. Future Combat Systems network of ground vehicles, drones and networked communications.

A report accompanying the defense bill cited ``significant development and contracting delays'' and said Congress ``harbors serious concerns about the FCS program.''

The House approved the Army's request for $878 million to buy an additional 240 Stryker wheeled armor vehicles produced by General Dynamics Corp.

The House provided $50 million the Pentagon did not request to continue development of the Lockheed Martin Joint Common Missile, the next generation of helicopter-launched air-to-ground missiles. The Pentagon in December said it was canceling this program as part of its budget-cutting effort. The program would cost as much as $5 billion over its life.

Aircraft

The House also overturned a Pentagon decision to terminate the Lockheed Martin C-130J transport program, providing money to continue a 5-year contract to buy a total of 62 planes. The Air Force would buy nine in fiscal 2006 and the Marine Corps would buy four.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last month the decision to terminate the program was a mistake because it would have cost more than $1 billion.

In other action, the House approved: the Pentagon's $3.2 billion request for 24 more Lockheed Martin F/A-22 aircraft; $4.9 billion, or $152 million less than requested, for continued development of the Joint Strike Fighter; the Navy's full request of $43 billion for 42 additional Boeing Co. F/A-18E/F and G-model signal-jamming aircraft; and, $2.8 billion for 15 additional Boeing C-17 transports.

The House approved the Navy's request for $2.8 billion to buy 11 more Boeing-Bell Helicopter Textron V-22 Ospreys. The Osprey, a fixed-wing plane with rotors that tilt so it can take off and land like a helicopter, is supposed to finish combat flight testing this summer so that the military can decide in September whether to begin full production.

Ships

The House approved funding for eight new Navy ships, $1 billion and four more than what the service requested. The funding includes $440 million for two more Littoral Combat Ships designed to operate close to shore.

Teams from General Dynamics and Lockheed are competing on the program. The House approved $1.55 billion for General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works unit to build an additional DDG-51 destroyer and $380 million for General Dynamic's San Diego-based NASSCO-unit another dry-cargo supply vessel.

The House approved cutting $1 billion of the Navy's $1.6 billion request for continued development and early purchase of the Northrop Grumman Corp.-designed DD(X) destroyer because it believed ``the program is likely to be restructured and a new cost-and-acquisition strategy developed.''

Cruise Missile

The House approved the House Appropriations Committee's recommendation to cancel the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or Jassm, after it repeatedly failed flight tests.

The committee in its fiscal 2005 report last year warned it was losing confidence in the program. This year it recommended termination. The Senate Appropriations Committee last year didn't criticize the program, a record that may give Lockheed hope the program can be salvaged.

The White House Office of Management and Budget in a statement last week objected to all the weapons cuts including the Jassm termination, calling the weapon ``a critical long-range, low-observable strike capability.''

The Air Force has taken delivery of 216 of 4,900 Jassms it wants to buy. The Air Force estimates it will spend $1.1 billion for Jassm development and another $3.5 billion in production.

``The Air Force plans to continue to execute its Jassm ground and flight test program to characterize Jassm performance, as well as identify potential reliability issues so that they can be addressed as soon as possible,'' Air Force spokesman Douglas Karas said.

The missile failed tests in March and May.

Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Jennifer Allen said the company ``appreciates the concerns relative to Jassm performance.'' The company is ``working with the Air Force to address reliability issues,'' including a series of ground tests at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, she said in an e-mail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 21, 2005 00:25 EDT