Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates will tell lawmakers the U.S. faces “hard choices” on weapons spending that may lead to cuts in some programs as he offers an early glimpse at how President Barack Obama plans to wage two wars.

Members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees will look to Gates today for clues on how Obama will reverse the deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan and manage the transition to a less active combat role in Iraq.

Gates is testifying as Obama and Congress contend with contradictory budgetary pressures generated by a mounting federal deficit and the need to finance two wars and buy new satellites, vessels and aircraft for later conflicts.

“We may have to invest more in the future-oriented program of one service and less in that of another service, particularly when both programs were conceived with the same threat in mind,” Gates, 65, will said in prepared testimony to the Senate panel.

Even as spending to ease the credit crisis and stimulate the economy has driven the deficit to more than $1 trillion, the U.S. has about 177,000 troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Afghan Strategy

Gates may signal how Obama plans to implement his campaign pledge to increase the focus on Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO troops are battling a resurgent Taliban foe. The new administration is conducting what Obama last week called a “full review” of Afghan strategy, drawing on assessments by the military and former President George W. Bush’s advisers.

Gates, in his prepared testimony, calls Afghanistan “our greatest military challenge.” While there is “no purely military solution,” more troops are needed “to provide a baseline level of security in some of the most dangerous areas,” he said.

The U.S. is considering adding troops in conjunction with “a dramatic increase in the size of the Afghan security forces,” he said.

Defense officials have said that as many as 30,000 more U.S. troops may be sent to Afghanistan in 2009. The exact number remains to be determined, as well as when they will arrive and what their specific missions will be. Also to be defined is how to fulfill a pledge to increase diplomatic and economic resources.

‘Long and Difficult’

The fight will be “long and difficult,” Gates said. Still, the U.S. “can attain what I believe should be among our strategic objectives: an Afghan people who do not provide a safe haven for al-Qaeda, reject the rule of the Taliban, and support the legitimate government that they elected and in which they have a stake,” he said.

The rapidity of the troop buildup is partly dependent on how quickly the administration draws down U.S. forces in Iraq. Gates will likely be asked about that pace, which is a potential source of tension between a president committed to a 16-month timetable and military commanders who fear that too rapid a pullout would jeopardize hard-won security gains.

“There is still the potential for setbacks,” Gates warned. “There may be hard days ahead for our troops.”

The secretary can also anticipate questions about how to deal with the Taliban-al-Qaeda sanctuary along the Afghan- Pakistani border, a main staging area for insurgent attacks in Afghanistan. The U.S. has pressured Pakistan to move against the refuge and has launched air strikes on targets there, most recently on Jan. 23.

Budget Issues

On budget issues, Gates will likely be pressed on whether he has convinced the new administration to approve a draft spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 that was prepared by his department before Obama came into office.

Gates in October told reporters that increasing long-range military spending would stimulate the economy and serve notice the U.S. is determined to carry on the fight against terrorism after the war in Iraq ends.

“If you want to talk about a stimulus package, the defense budget’s not bad, and obviously a lot of jobs around the country depend” on military spending, Gates said.

The Pentagon has drafted a fiscal 2010 spending plan that calls for $580.3 billion, including $34.4 billion in emergency war spending, according to a summary chart prepared last month by acting Comptroller Douglas Brook.

Next Budget

The draft plan is about 13.4 percent more than the final 2009 defense budget approved by congressional appropriators that forms the floor used to build the next budget.

The draft proposal adds $19.3 billion that isn’t connected directly to current conflicts, including $5 billion for tactical aviation, such as the Joint Strike Fighter made by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp.

Gates will likely be pressed today by Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia for his view on whether to buy more Lockheed F-22 fighters above the 183 already on contract and four additional that will be requested in another fiscal 2009 war supplemental. Congress has mandated a decision by March 1.

The aircraft is assembled by the world’s biggest defense company primarily at a Marietta, Georgia, factory.

Gates and his then-deputy, Gordon England, said last year that while the F-22s on order were sufficient to meet potential wartime scenarios, they would leave it to the next administration to decide whether to buy more.

Now, the decision has come back to him, as Gates noted wryly in his prepared testimony today.

“As I focused on the wars of these past two years, I ended up punting a number of procurement decisions,” including the F- 22 question, Gates said. “Well, as luck would have it, I am now on the receiving end of those kicks.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 27, 2009 09:00 EST