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Meanwhile, the Pentagon's $534 billion base budget -- $21 billion, or 4 percent, larger than last year's -- also includes key initiatives to reshape the U.S. military for fighting today's wars. Major shifts include increasing spending on intelligence and reconnaissance, helicopters and Special Operations Forces, while stopping production of unneeded weapons systems and terminating or restructuring other programs considered "troubled."
The budget includes $2.3 billion more for personnel costs than the level enacted in 2009, an increase that would help pay for the Bush administration's decision to permanently increase the size of the Army by 65,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 27,000 Marines.