U.S. missile defense said to face near $2 billion cut

The White House has asked the Pentagon to cut nearly $2 billion, or up to roughly 20 percent, from missile defense in its fiscal 2010 budget, a prominent advocate of the costliest U.S. weapons development effort said on Friday.

Boeing Co's Airborne Laser, a modified 747 being designed to zap ballistic missiles moments after liftoff, was in "very serious jeopardy of being taken out," said Riki Ellison, head of the industry-supported Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates brought in U.S. combat commanders and heads of the armed services on Friday to help make "tough choices" in the Pentagon's fiscal 2010 budget, a Defense Department spokesman said.

Read more