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US budget could end 2 Raytheon programs David Wichner Arizona Daily Star Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems faces elimination of two weapons programs in the recently unveiled Pentagon budget for 2012. But the local Raytheon unit would get a boost from a proposed increase in the missile-defense budget, and parent Raytheon Co. and other major defense contractors escape major cuts in the Obama administration budgets, analysts say. The Pentagon is asking for base funding of $553 billion for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, including program cuts designed to save $78 billion over the next decade. Proposed cuts include termination...

The U.S. Army is becoming a major buyer, and user, of guided missiles. In the next year, the army will spend nearly $2 billion on development and procurement of missile systems. Most of this is for missile systems that are not needed right now, but would be if the right foe were encountered. For example, $480 million is being spent on Patriot Pac 3 anti-missile missiles. The $3.3 million PAC 3 missile is smaller than the cheaper anti-aircraft version (PAC 2), thus a Patriot launcher can hold sixteen PAC 3 missiles, versus four PAC 2s. A PAC 2 missile weighs...