Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined sweeping changes to the U.S. defense budget yesterday that would shift billions of dollars in Pentagon spending away from elaborate weapons toward programs more likely to benefit troops in today's wars.

Officials in Hawai'i, where the federal government and military are second only to tourism in fueling the state's economy, were still trying late yesterday to gauge the potential impact.

Gates recommended halting production of the Air Force's costly F-22 fighter jet at 187 planes — four more than in the current program, but 56 fewer than the Air Force wanted.

Hawai'i National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony said Hawai'i remains on track to get 20 of the aircraft the Air Force considers its most advanced weapon system.

The first two of the stealth fighters are expected to arrive in June of 2010, with additional jets coming that fall.

"Whether or not the buy was going to be ... 187 or even more, we were anticipating that we were still going to get our complement of 20," Anthony said yesterday.

In a potentially intriguing development for Hawaii Superferry, Gates recommended that the military lease an additional two high-speed transport ships until the new Joint High Speed Vessels are ready in 2011.

In November, the Defense Department awarded the prime contract to build the vessels to Austal USA, and the catamaran design is similar to Austal's WestPac Express and Superferry.

WestPac Express has been used by the Marines for the past seven years.

Superferry's two catamarans are available for military lease after the company suspended commercial passenger and vehicle operations in Hawai'i last month because of a state Supreme Court ruling.

Thomas Fargo, the president and chief executive officer of Superferry, said yesterday that it was premature to comment about a potential military lease.

Overall, the budget proposal by Gates amounts to a radical change in the way the Pentagon buys weapons. For decades, the U.S. has spent trillions of dollars on weapons programs striving for revolutionary leaps, but often were delivered years late and billions of dollars over budget.

In proposing his 2010 budget, which will likely face stiff resistance from Congress, Gates emphasized that he wanted to change the "priorities of America's defense establishment."

The $534 billion plan represents a $20 billion increase over 2009.

The effort to pare back weapons programs that Gates derided as "truly in the exquisite category" reflects a growing recognition in the Pentagon that the days of soaring defense budgets are over. And it highlights Gates' long-stated desire to increase spending on surveillance systems and other relatively low-tech weapons that are best suited for guerrilla or irregular war, which has traditionally been an industry backwater. "I'm just trying to get the irregular guys to have a seat at the table and to institutionalize some of the needs they have," he said.

To bolster the Afghan war effort, he would spend $2 billion more on intelligence and surveillance programs to track shadowy insurgents, $500 million to field more helicopters and an additional 2,800 special operations personnel focused on counterterrorism.

Among the weapons taking the biggest hits are the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer, a stealthy ship whose cost has ballooned over the past decade. The Navy will purchase only three of the advanced ships and then revert to building the Arleigh-Burke class destroyers that have been a mainstay of the fleet for years.

Gates recommended killing the new presidential helicopter program. He said he would add $700 million to "field more of our most capable theater missile defense systems," specifically the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, and the Standard Missile 3 programs — both of which are involved in testing on Kaua'i.

The Pentagon proposal also would dramatically cut the Army's ambitious Future Combat Systems program, which consists of a network of advanced vehicles, unmanned surveillance aircraft and battlefield sensors. Specifically, Gates said that he is canceling the $87 billion in the program set aside to develop a new generation of light armored vehicles that were meant to replace the heavy 72-ton tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. These advanced vehicles, which have been in development for almost a decade, were supposed to rely on better surveillance technology to compensate for their lack of armor.

The huge toll that low-tech roadside bombs have taken on Army and Marine Corps troops in Iraq and Afghanistan led Gates to conclude that such an approach was not feasible. Instead of pouring more money into the futuristic vehicles, Gates indicated that he was more comfortable spending money on the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle, which is based on a South African design that dates to the early 1990s.

He also set aside $2 billion for surveillance technology, such as Predator unmanned surveillance planes and other sensors that have proven their worth tracking down insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another $11 billion is being reallocated within the budget to pay for a planned increase of 65,000 troops to the Army's ranks and an additional 27,000 Marines.

NEW PRIORITIES

In unveiling his new priorities for the Pentagon, Gates acknowledged that he would likely face opposition from lawmakers eager to protect jobs in their districts. "My hope is that members of Congress will rise above parochial interests and consider what is in the best interest of the nation as a whole," he said.

Gates demanded unprecedented secrecy when developing the budget over the past six weeks. Senior generals throughout the department were required to sign nondisclosure agreements. To prevent leaks, Gates won special permission from the president to withhold his decisions from the White House's Office of Management and Budget until after the budget proposal was formally announced. "We wanted to ensure that the changes were presented in full context," said a senior Pentagon official.

The initial response on Capitol Hill was restrained, reflecting Gates' credibility among Republicans, the president's popularity and the fact that the midterm congressional elections are still 18 months away. House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., called the Gates plan "a good faith effort." But he also asserted Congress' authority over how defense money is spent. "The buck stops with Congress," Skelton said in a statement.

The cuts will be painful for communities such as Marietta, Ga., where about 2,000 Lockheed workers assemble the F-22. The program employs about 25,000 people around the country, said Rep. Tom Price, R, whose Georgia district includes the Lockheed plant.

"This decision will not only cost thousands of jobs at a critical time, it is detrimental to the country's national defense capabilities," said Price. "The president's priorities are deeply flawed."

Similarly, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., bemoaned the decision to stop building F-22s. "This would result in the loss of thousands of jobs in Connecticut," he said.

Gates said he was concerned about the impact his changes would have on companies and workers, but also noted that many of the job cuts would be counterbalanced by increases in other areas. For example, he noted that even as the number of employees working on the F-22 declined, tens of thousands more workers would be hired to build the F-35, a more affordable and slightly less advanced stealth fighter jet. Gates said he planned to accelerate production of the plane to buy 30 in 2010 up from a planned purchase of 14 this year.