Washington
DC Office
307 Dirksen Senate
Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-6441
Fax: 202-224-1724
Wyoming Office
P.O. Box 22201
Casper, WY 82602
307-261-6413
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Contact: Cameron Hardy
202-224-6441 |
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Five Wyo Projects Funded in DoD Spending Bill
Thomas secures $7.6M for Cheyenne Air Facility, $2.5M for Joint Robotics |
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September 7th, 2006 - WASHINGTON – Continuing his efforts to enhance military readiness in Wyoming, U.S. Senator Craig Thomas secured funding for a new squadron air facility in Cheyenne and additional funding for the joint robotics partnership between the Wyoming Guard and the University of Wyoming at Camp Guernsey.
Thomas cited the need to fully fund the nation’s military force, as the U.S. Senate passed the FY2007 Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill, 98-0. Wyoming’s senior senator and former Marine, voted in favor of the bill.
“In the midst of the War on Terror, we must continue to improve our military’s ability to defend our nation. The protection of our country is something we should all agree on,” Thomas said.
“Wyoming is getting the financial backing to revamp our facilities in Cheyenne and Camp Guernsey. I’m pleased to see Wyoming’s military projects provide new joint operational capability.”
Senator Thomas made specific efforts to secure $7.6 million for the replacement of the Squadron Operations Facility in Cheyenne and $2.5 million for the Joint Robotics program at Camp Guernsey.
The Squadron Operations Facility at the Wyoming Air National Guard facility in Cheyenne will sustain the 24-hour operations of the airborne firefighting, aero-medical evacuation, and homeland defense missions of four C-130 H3 aircraft, as well as additional missions. It includes space for administration and training, intelligence, life support, survival equipment, command post, flight planning, aircrew briefing rooms, flight management, and storage. The current facility is outdated and inadequate and not conducive to day-to-day operations or training.
The Joint Robotics program, a partnership between University of Wyoming and the Wyoming National Guard at Camp Guernsey, runs the National Unmanned Systems Experimentation Environment (NUSE2) program.
Thomas noted that Wyoming is a main site in a national consortium of experimental test facilities used to develop unmanned aerial, ground and water vehicles.
Wyoming will also receive funds for three additional projects:
Wyoming Air National Guard Cheyenne - Add To/Alter Fire Crash/Rescue Station - $4.2 million
Wyoming Army National Guard Camp Guernsey - Multi-Purpose Machine Gun Range - $1.796 million
U.S. Air Force – F. E. Warren Air Force Base - renovation of Dormitory 320 - $11 million
Total for Wyoming’s five projects - $27.096 million
The total funding for the DoD will be $453.48 billion for FY2007. This amount is $9.12 billion lower than the amount the Administration requested. The bill now moves to a Conference Committee to be reconciled with the House version.
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| 7th - |
current Press Release |
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