US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says he wants to make cuts of nearly 80 billion dollars in the military budget over the next five years, in part by scrapping a 14 billion dollar amphibious fighting vehicle. He said the action was required to help bring the country's ballooning fiscal deficit under control. The Defence Secretary announced the biggest spending cut since the attack of September 11. Troops level will shrink by 6 per cent over five years and some of the most expensive military hardware would be cancelled. Much of the defence cuts will come through reduced administrative costs, new organisational efficiencies, and slashed personnel costs. The Pentagon's budget is expected to be 553 billion dollars in 2012, reflecting roughly 3% growth. After that, growth would slow and would be essentially flat in 2015 and 2016, the Pentagon said.