Congressman
Elton Gallegly
Serving the 24th District of California

http://www.house.gov/gallegly/press2006.htm

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 27, 2006

 Contact: Tom Pfeifer
(202) 225-5811

Gallegly Secures More Than $10 Million for Local Defense Projects

WASHINGTON, DC—The House of Representatives late Tuesday approved requests by Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties) to fund more than $10 million in defense projects in Ventura County.

The requests were included in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act conference report, which passed the House on a 394-22 vote. The Senate is expected to approve the report this week and send it to the President for his signature.

Specifically, the projects championed by Gallegly include:

• $3.2 million to retrofit approximately 117 S-3B aircraft for firefighting and possibly Homeland Security Department uses. The Air Force is in the process of retiring the S-3B fleet at half its rated lifespan, making their conversion into firefighting aircraft a cost-effective alternative.
• $2.12 million of the Asymmetric Warfare Initiative: The Asymmetric Warfare Initiative is a national program that develops and evaluates technologies designed to recognize, counter and control the effects of asymmetric warfare threats, including terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and information warfare. This work primarily is done at Naval Base Ventura County’s Center for Asymmetric Warfare. Gallegly has persuaded his colleagues to provide funding for the project for several years.
• $2 million for radio-tagging technology to be used to streamline inventory as part of the Naval Air Warfare Center Asset Visibility Business Process Improvement. The contract will be performed by Zebra Technologies of Camarillo.
• $1.1 million for the Southern California Offshore Range (SCORE) Navy Smart Target Program, Naval Base Ventura County: The Navy uses simulated hostile signals at fixed and mobile sites to facilitate operator training. The San Clemente Island Range Complex where SCORE is located is the only remaining littoral live fire training range since the loss of Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. The funding will provide additional Smart Target Threats at SCORE, which will significantly aid in improving electronic warfare. Gallegly has persuaded his colleagues to provide funding to upgrade SCORE for several years.
• $1 million for hardened night-vision goggles: Night vision goggle technology allows U.S. forces to see the enemy at night at longer distances than the enemy can see them. However, this critical advantage is at risk due to the wide proliferation of near-infrared diode lasers (in CD and DVD players, for example) that can be converted easily to jamming devices. This funding would be used to continue the development and speed production of an optical filter that can block the threat while still transmitting ambient light from the scene. The work will be performed by Rockwell Scientific in Thousand Oaks.
• $1 million for day-night, wide area surveillance cameras to be used by the US Special Operations Command to monitor large areas for potential threats. The contract will be performed by Panavision of Woodland Hills.

In addition to Gallegly’s provisions, the conference report also provides:

• Full funding for the 2.2 percent military pay raise;
• $1.9 billion for new improvised explosive device countermeasures to protect our troops on the ground;
• Almost $23 billion to ensure Army and Marine Corps troops are fully equipped with updated and refurbished equipment;
• $9.4 billion for ballistic missile defense;
• $937 million to fight narcoterrorism and fund the Department of Defense’s counter-drug activities; and
• $1.5 billion for the Chemical and Biological Defense Program.