Clinton said the proposal he will send to Congress is ``the start of a six-year effort that will represent the first long-term sustained increase in defence spending in a decade.''

His first weekly radio address of the year did not say how much the increase would cost but the New York Times said the President's initiative amounted to about 100 billion dollars.

The President, facing heat from Republicans who charge that he has neglected the military, said the new money would help pay for joint exercises, flight training, spare parts and recruiting.

It also would pay for ``the next generation of ships, planes, and weapons systems'' and ``enable our military to play its part in meeting emerging threats to our security such as terrorism and proliferation,'' the President said.

Additionally, the money would replace aging equipment, barracks andfamily housing for the 1.4 million Americans on active duty. And it would include a military pay raise of 4.4 percent, the largest since 1982.

Clinton's initiative comes at a time when the US military is extended in the Gulf, active in Bosnia, and has 250,000 soldiers deployed outside the United States. This has some military planners concerned that US capacity is being stretched too thin.

A recent issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology reports that the Air strikes launched against Iraq in December had reduced the stockpile of US cruise missile to the point that the Pentagon fears a shortage.