For Immediate Release

December 19, 2005

FINAL AGREEMENT REACHED ON DEFENSE SPENDING BILL;
HOUSE APPROVES BREMERTON WORK, BOEING PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House approved the final version of the Defense Appropriations bill early today, including funds for conversion of Trident submarines at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, new equipment for the Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, a 3.1 percent pay boost for military personnel and for several key Boeing Company aircraft and system integration programs, Congressman Norm Dicks said Monday.

            The congressman is a member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, responsible for approving Pentagon spending annually.  He said the bill approved today will provide a critical boost to Boeing’s new Navy aircraft, the P-8A, which is built on a Boeing 737 airframe.  A total of $964 million was included in the bill for development of the “Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft,” the Navy's next-generation maritime surveillance aircraft that is intended to replace the P-3 Orion.

            Rep. Dicks also said the bill includes $287 million as the final increment necessary to complete refueling and conversion of the remaining two Trident submarines (SSBNs) into a new conventional configuration – the SSGN.  As an alternative to retirement due to arms reduction treaty requirements, the Navy is converting four of its Trident ballistic missile submarines from carrying D-5 missiles to conventional long-range cruise missiles.  Work on two of the four Trident subs  – the USS Ohio and the USS Michigan – is being accomplished at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.

            He also said both of Boeing’s fighter aircraft programs –the Air Force’s F-22A and the Navy’s upgrades to the F/A-18E&F -- were fully funded, and that other important Boeing programs were funded in the measure, including:      

F-22A Aircraft
The defense appropriations bill includes $3.2 billion for the procurement of 25 F-22A aircraft, the Air Force's next-generation fighter intended to replace the F-16, and designed to have both air-to-air and air-to-ground fighter capabilities.  In addition, the bill adds $480 million for research and development of the aircraft.

F/A-18/E/F Aircraft
Another $2.9 billion was included for 38 next-generation F/A-18 E/Fs, the Navy's upgrade of the current F/A-18 C/D aircraft.

V-22 Osprey
The bill includes procurement and continued R&D funding for the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which can take off and land like a helicopter, but fly like a fixed-wing airplane. It has "medium lift" capabilities, and is designed for Marine Corps and special-operations assaults. Boeing is teamed with Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. on this program.  For the next fiscal year, a total of $1.1 billion will be used to purchase nine Navy V-22s; $222 million will pay for procurement of two Air Force CV-22s; an additional $206 million is provided for research and development on the Navy's V-22A; another $81 million for modifications to existing V-22s.  In addition, $42 million is budgeted for further development of Air Force CV-22s; and $30 million for development of Special Operations CV-22s.

Army “Future Combat System” (Boeing Co. is lead systems integrator)
The defense appropriations bill contains $3.1 billion for the Future Combat System, the Army's next generation of combat vehicles and weapons systems, an increase of $239 million over FY 2005.

JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition)
Boeing has produced this adaptation to conventional bombs that adds GPS guidance greatly improves accuracy of U.S. munitions.   A total of $306 million is appropriated in the bill for additional Air Force and Navy versions of the weapons.

            Rep. Dicks also noted the defense spending bill has a broad impact on all of the state’s defense bases.  At Fort Lewis, the Army is establishing a third “Stryker Brigade,” composed of medium-weight forces capable of rapid deployment.  They utilize the 20-ton Stryker vehicle, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle that can be deployed more quickly to distant battlefields than the 80-ton M-1 tank. The bill appropriates the funding for the continued development of the Stryker Brigade concept at Fort Lewis, as well $882 million for the procurement of an additional 240 Stryker vehicles.   

            The bill also provides funding to sustain torpedo production work at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Keyport, including a $3.5 million increment that Rep. Dicks inserted to enhance the production capability of the MK-48 torpedo at Keyport.

The University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab conducts extensive acoustic and oceanography research for the U.S. Navy in addition to a broad array of other basic and applied research in environmental and acoustic topics.  Rep. Dicks added $2.8 million to the FY 2006 defense appropriations bill to enable APL to modernize its infrastructure to continue the research work at the lab, which operates under a long-term research agreement with the Navy.

Another $4.2 million from the defense bill will expand a military intelligence program conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine Research Operations in Sequim.  It is a research project to identify chemical and biological warfare agents using man-made sensors and natural organisms to detect indications of these weapons of mass destruction.  The program is called Coastal MASINT, referring to the “Measurement and Signatures Intelligence” area of U.S. military intelligence gathering.

            In addition, several small businesses in Washington State are engaged in defense technology and research programs that are funded in this measure, including:

Bremerton’s Ex One - $3.6 million was included in the bill to fund the company’s three dimensional metal fabricating process that produces machinery castings from computer models.  The Navy benefits from the dramatically-reduced time and material costs for parts produced through this process.

Concurrent Technology Corporation of Bremerton provides consulting and technical advice to the Navy, including on environmental issues.  In this year’s defense budget, $2.5 million will fund the company's work for Naval Base Kitsap.

The Dimension 4 company in Bremerton produces digital versions of technical manuals.  Using a total of $5.2 million in funding from this bill in the next year, Dimension 4 will produce a wiring traceout for the Army’s Stryker Brigade Combat Teams and it will implement a Joint Aviation Technical Data Integration project.

Mobilisa, a Port Townsend company, has been developing a “Floating Area Network” concept for connecting Navy ships through a broadband communications link  utilizing secure satellite and direct line-of-sight connections.

Applied Technology Systems of Bremerton has developed a unique capability and software tools to assist the Army in data mining and data analysis

Paladin Data Systems of Poulsbo will receive $2.1 million from the Navy for an aviation maintenance training system.

21st Century Systems of Bremerton will receive $1 million to implement its Sentinel Net decision support system for anti-terrorism force protection.

            Finally, Rep. Dicks said, $1.8 million from the defense bill will be used to continue the Navy’s participation in the research effort into the causes of Hood Canal’s low oxygen problem, which has seriously affected the health of salmon and other marine life in Hood Canal in recent years.


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