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Funding will Benefit Projects and Programs in Prince George’s County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, December 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations conference report today that contains tens of millions of dollars in funding that will benefit Prince George’s County at the request of Congressman Steny Hoyer.
“I was pleased to secure federal funding to assist three small businesses in Prince George’s County that are working on projects that will benefit our nation’s military and the safety of our troops,” said Congressman Hoyer. “The pistol modernization project will greatly increase the safety and effectiveness of weapons used by the Marine Corps, and the significant funding to enhance our satellite program will ensure that the United States is at the forefront of innovative space technologies.
“Furthermore, I was very pleased to secure funds to establish the Center for Energetic Concept Developments and the Center for Integrated Security Logistics at the University of Maryland, one of the nation’s most dynamic institutions of higher learning. Through this federal government-university partnership, the University of Maryland will serve the public by conducting critical research necessary to improve national security readiness, while providing students, scientists and academics with a state-of-the-art facilities and technology.
“All of these programs are not only important to our state’s economy, but will further enhance our military capabilities, and thereby contribute to our national security,” concluded Hoyer.
The funding that will benefit Prince George’s County included in the FY06 Department of Defense Appropriations conference report passed today is listed below.
Operationally Responsive Satellites, $39 Million
Current national security space programs provide unique, usually single mission capabilities (early warning, weather, intelligence) and are not designed to execute multiple / responsive missions. A successful demonstration of the Operationally Responsive Satellite Program will enable the opportunity to develop and deploy an operational system capable of rapidly protecting and reconstituting critical US space assets “on demand.” This funding for the Operationally Responsive Satellites program (ORS) will accelerate this critical technology development and could provide a first launch capability in as early as 24 months. Swales Aerospace, a small business aerospace engineering firm headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland will be one of the aerospace companies that will benefit from this funding.
Center for Energetic Concepts Development (CECD), $2.8 Million
Energetic innovations have provided America’s military with new weapons, like the thermobaric ‘cave busting’ bomb, to meet unforeseen military objectives, such as the assault on the al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan. In order to maintain future dominance in military energetics, it is imperative for the U.S. Navy to develop its next-generation energetics workforce to offset the loss of the critical mass of its current energetics workforce, one-third of which are nearing retirement age. To prevent this impending energetics workforce crisis, in 1998 the Navy and the University of Maryland established the Center for Energetic Concepts Development (CECD), the nation’s only advanced full spectrum education program to address research and development in energetics. Working in collaboration with the Naval Academy, the Naval Post Graduate School (Monterey, CA), and other institutions, this successful energetics workforce revitalization program is developing a new energetics workforce to meet the Navy’s future tactical requirements and provide both the DOD and related private industry with the intellectual capital required to maintain America’s energetics dominance and an ability to counter new ordnance developed by adversaries. This education program is a tremendous advantage to ensuring Indian Head has a wealth of expertise and the future intellectual capital necessary to maintain the advanced capabilities making this installation a critical asset to our military.
M9 Pistol Modernization Through Spares (P-MTS) Program, $2.1 Million
The Marine Corps is the military’s heaviest user of their issued service side arm, the M-9 9mm pistol, due to their aggressive training and tactics. However, the 9mm sidearm that many Marines carry are approximately 15 years old. Between 1987-1991, the Marine Corps purchased approximately 72,000 M-9 Pistols. The M9s were originally supplied with the manufacturer’s quality magazines. As these magazines wore out, the Army, as the single supplier to the Department of Defense, replaced them with magazines supplied by the lowest bidder. In Operation Iraqi Freedom, these replacement magazines have routinely failed, including failure to feed, jamming and breakage. This funding will allow the Marine Corps to purchase these parts from Beretta USA. Two years ago, Congressman Hoyer successfully secured $5 million in federal funds to modernize 33,500 (46.3%) of the Marine Corps M-9 pistols. And, last year, Mr. Hoyer secured $2.5 million to upgrade the US Marine Corps M-9 pistols. The $3 million in federal funding included in today’s bill will replace the necessary parts with new ones from Beretta USA, improve the operational service life of these M-9 9mm pistols and improve the safety of these weapons for the servicemen and women using them.
Center for Integrated Security Logistics, $1.4 Million
The proposed Center, at the University of Maryland Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise, develops and demonstrates dynamic information technology networks that link soldiers on the battlefield to support personnel across the globe. The connectivity to weapon suppliers and repair and maintenance depots enable faster response to war fighter’s requirements such as munitions, armor, spare parts and fuel. The center networks support the Army munitions readiness efforts conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground and Edgewood Arsenal.
The University of Maryland will apply the Center’s advanced knowledge to strengthen homeland security. Through collaborative learning and forecasts, the Center will improve national security readiness through real time interagency coordination to provide immediate response to national security threats. Funding of this Center enables the establishment in FY2006 of integrated leading edge logistics science and technology projects across the University’s Public Policy and Clark School of Engineering Schools.
Perimeter Security Technology Program, $1.1 Million
In the last ten years, the United States has come to a crossroads with terrorism caused by attacks by land (Oklahoma City, Khobar Towers, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania), sea (USS Cole) and air (World Trade Center, Pentagon), demonstrating the challenge of protecting vast U.S. critical infrastructure resources domestically and abroad. Many of these critical resources, such as chemical demilitarization sites, have to be guarded by Reservists whose skills would be better utilized in support of counterterrorism efforts at home and abroad. While many initiatives by the Department of Defense pursue technologies for automatic video surveillance, there are many new products that have yet to be integrated that fulfill the most critical need of creating Perimeter Security Technology for intelligent automated digital video surveillance of critical infrastructures. This program, which will be completed by Native American Industrial Contributors Inc., can help address this need.
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