US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has unveiled a 2010 budget plan worth 534 billion dollars. It includes a plan to cancel several major weapons programs.

The defense budget, if approved by the White House and Congress, would pump billions of fresh dollars into programs such as unmanned aerial systems.

As a result, US troops would upgrade their capabilities in the shorter, less conventional wars expected to dominate the future.

Gates' proposal would cut missile defense spending by 1.4 billion dollars. It would also end the production of Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighters and revamp the way the Navy builds destroyers.

The purpose behind the shift of focus is to thwart insurgents in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The US defense budget for 2009 is 513 billion dollars.