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 The plan also shifts the Navy's strategy for a new carrier-based
unmanned drone to focus more on intelligence-gathering and refueling
than combat strike missions, said the sources, who were not
authorized to discuss it publicly before the budget's release.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter plans to map out his spending
priorities for the $583 billion 2017 defense budget on Tuesday ahead
of the official budget release on Feb. 9.
The Pentagon's plan will also underscore the need to fund all three
legs of the U.S. strategic deterrent "triad" - a new Air Force
bomber, a replacement for the Ohio-class submarines that carry
nuclear weapons, and new nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic
missiles, said one of the sources.
The Navy's proposed fiscal 2017 budget will fund procurement of
materials for the new submarines that take a long time to acquire,
with funding for construction of the first full new submarine to
follow in fiscal 2021, said one of the sources.
Over the next five years, the Navy would spend over $4 billion on
research and development of the new submarines, plus over $9 billion
in procurement funding, the sources said.
 General Dynamics Corp <GD.N> has the lead role on the new submarine
to replace the current Ohio-class of submarines, together with
Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc <HII.N>.
Boeing would receive well over $1 billion in new aircraft orders as
it seeks to extend production at the company's St. Louis facility.
The Navy will request funding for two Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets
as part of the fiscal 2017 war budget, and 14 in the fiscal 2018
budget, said one of the sources.
Navy officials also will likely add a request for 12 more Boeing
Super Hornets to their annual list of "unfunded priorities" for
fiscal 2017, said one of the sources.
Those moves are aimed at filling a shortfall in the number of strike
fighters available on aircraft carriers, given delays in the
Lockheed F-35 fighter jet program and longer-than-expected repair
times for current Boeing F/A-18 jets.
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The five-year budget plan calls for Lockheed to sell a total of 161
F-35 fighter jets to the Navy and Marine Corps - 64 C-model jets
that take off and land on aircraft carriers and 97 B-model jets,
which can take off from shorter runways and land like a helicopter,
according to one of the sources.
The proposal also narrows the mission of a new drone to be built by
the U.S. Navy, the sources said.
To reflect the change, the Navy plans to rename the new drone
program the Carrier-Based Air Refueling System, or CBARS, instead of
the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike
(UCLASS) program, said one of the sources.
The drones would have an initial limited strike capability, but more
could be added in coming years, the sources said.
Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman Corp <NOC.N>, which makes the
unmanned, unarmed X-47B plane that has been tested on U.S. carriers,
and privately held General Atomics spent tens of millions of dollars
to prepare for the previous tender.
But the program was put on hold in 2014 pending a Pentagon-wide
review of intelligence and surveillance programs.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart;
Editing by Dan Grebler)
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