An estimated 48 billion dollars will go to restructure the army over seven years, increasing the number of combat brigades by 30 percent, they said.

"We think this is an essential piece of this budget," a senior defense official said.

Two infantry marine battalions, 1,200 more special operations forces and other units also will be added under the plan.

If approved, the proposal would represent a 4.8 percent increase in military spending over the Defense Department's 400.1 billion-dollar budget in

It does not include costs associated with US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, however. Those will be funded separately through an 80 billion-dollar request for emergency spending to be submitted to Congress next week, officials said.

But the Pentagon's proposed 2006 budget and a companion plan for military spending through 2011 were clearly shaped by the demands of a long war in Iraq and mounting US deficits.

It also was a step back in US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's push for a smaller, leaner military enabled by high tech communications, stealth and long-range precision weaponry.

"Rather than getting the technology-intensive force that Secretary Rumsfeld envisioned, the nation seems destined to have a labor intensive military posture," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst.

The budget plan calls for spending 55 billion dollars less than anticipated on a variety of programs, slashing procurements of fighter jets, submarines, warships and even missile defense.

About 25 billion dollars of those savings will be poured back into the army's program to reorganize its forces around "modular" combat brigades rather than divisions, the defense officials said.

The reorganization aims to create 43 brigades by 2007 from top-heavy active duty divisions that now have 33 brigades, relieving the stress on US ground forces. Army National Guard divisions also will be restructured to form 34 combat brigades by 2010.

The Pentagon will be seeking another 10 billion dollars for the reorganization through supplemental requests in 2005 and 2006, and the army has allocated 13 billion dollars from its base budget for the program for a total of 48 billion dollars.

The army's authorized strength remains stable at 482,400 through 2007 under the plan. But its actual strength is now about 500,000 and it has authority to go up to 512,000 on a temporary basis.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz indicated in congressional testimony last week that the temporary increase may be made permament in 2007, something Rumsfeld has long resisted.

"I think the message here is that there is ... support from OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defense) to increase the capability of the army and to grow the army," a senior army oficial said.

Other budget items reflect concerns about the health and readiness of the larger force.

The largest single account in the 2006 budget was operations and maintenance, which was increased by 11.1 billion dollars to 147.8 billion dollars to maintain the readiness of US military forces.

The budget funds a 3.1 percent pay increase for the base military pay, and a 2.3 percent pay hike for civilians.

Still, the 2006 budget is 5.9 billion dollars lower than anticipated in the fiscal 2005 spending plan.

That marks the first slowing of the huge military buildup that followed the September 1, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

White House budget officials insisted on cuts to reign in the deficit, officials have said.

Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz decided what to cut in meetings with the leaders of the military services, the officials said.

"They together looked at where they should take risks," a senior military oficial said.

The air force took the biggest hit. The number of stealthy, supersonic F-22 fighters it will buy was pared to 179 -- 96 fewer than planned.

The navy's planned procurement of Virginia class attack submarines was reduced to one a year. The navy also loses two DDX destroyers and an amphibious dock ship. One of its aircraft carriers will be retired under the plan.

The Marine Corps will be get fewer V-22 Osprey aircraft than it wanted.

The missile defense program, a Republican favorite but also the Defense Department's most expensive research and development program, will have a billion dollars lopped off its 8.8 billion dollar budget in 2006. Over six years, proposed cuts to the program total five billion dollars.