January 21, 2007: You can get a good idea of U.S. Army priorities by looking at how they plan to spend their money in the next year. Despite having one of the largest aircraft fleets in the world, only $691 million will be spent on acquiring new aircraft, or aircraft related equipment. Because there's a war on, $861 million will be spent on missiles. But half of that will be spent on modifying Patriot anti-aircraft/anti-missile equipment. Another $839 million will be spent on all other types of munitions. In contrast, $2.9 billion will go to new trucks, and $1.9 billion for new radios. Both of these items are taking a big beating in Iraq. Over $3 billion will be spent on armored vehicles, with a quarter going to Stryker, and about 40 percent to M-1 tank upgrades. The army is taking advantage of the M1's need for refurbishment (to repair wear and tear suffered in Iraq) to upgrade the tanks with modern electronics and communications.