January 15, 2006: The U.S. defense budget for 2006 comes to $491.5 billion. This includes $50 billion just for operations in Iraq. The biggest procurement item is aircraft, which gets $25.9 billion (13.2 for the air force, 9.9 for the navy and 2.8 for the army). Another nine billion dollars will be spent on missiles. The air force is spending $3.7 billion on building F-22s, and five billion dollars to continue development of the F-35. Most of the defense budget goes to payroll and taking care of the troops (who got a 3.1 percent raise this year). The navy and air force are cutting personnel so they can upgrade weapons and equipment. Automation is coming to the military, as it has everywhere else. Troops on, and behind, the front line are being replaced by machines, a trend that will accelerate in the next decade.