For Immediate Release

September 18, 2003

COMPROMISE REACHED ON
DEFENSE SPENDING BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional negotiators last night approved a compromise version of the defense spending bill for the next fiscal year, including funds for several Boeing aircraft programs and for continued development of the Army’s transformation efforts, launched at Fort Lewis, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Thursday.

            Rep. Dicks, a senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, served on the House-Senate conference panel that formulated the final version of the $369.2 billion defense spending bill.  The bill funds the 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel recommended by the Defense Department and it includes another $128 million for additional combat and hazardous duty pay that was needed to maintain the increases that Congress approved earlier this year.

            The bill also funds a 4.1 percent pay increase for civilian employees of the Defense Department, though the specific rate of pay is authorized in separate legislation yet to be agreed to by Congress or by the President.

            The Army’s transformation concept, shifting strategy and equipment to address new and emerging threats worldwide, began with an initial appropriation to fund two combat brigades at Fort Lewis in the 2000 fiscal year.  Subsequent-year funding has paid for the development of the new Stryker light attack vehicle that is being utilized by these quickly-deployed, highly-mobile troops, in addition to two more transformational brigades (in Alaska and Hawaii).  For the next fiscal year, the Stryker vehicle program is fully-funded, and an extra $35 million in advance procurement funding for the 5th and 6th Stryker brigades was added to the bill.

            “This action clearly endorses the success of the pioneering work that has been done at Fort Lewis to develop the new brigade concept to handle urban warfare and other new types of combat requirements,” said Rep. Dicks.  Because of the faster-than-expected development of the Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, they are now operational and the first brigade is being deployed to Iraq in early October, Dicks added.

            The congressman also said the defense spending bill contains a total of $363 million for a new reconnaissance platform called the E-10 or “Multi-sensor Command and Control [MC2A]” aircraft.   This aircraft, now under development, will be built on the Boeing 767-400ER airframe, and it could lead to up to 50 more Boeing 767 purchases in future years.  Combined with the proposed Air Force lease of 100 767 tankers, the MC2A is part of an Air Force plan to have a “common wide-body” airframe that will replace a variety of older 707 aircraft now in use for specific military missions.

Several other Boeing programs will be funded in defense bill, Rep. Dicks said, including:

• $3.4 billion to purchase 11 additional C-17s and for maintaining maintain the entire C-17 fleet of more than 100 aircraft.  Combined with prior orders, this funding will allow Boeing to maintain the production rate of 15 aircraft per year in 2004.
• $4.8 billion for continued R&D and for purchase of 22 of the F-22 next generation fighter aircraft, built jointly by Boeing and Lockheed.
• $3.1 billion for 42 F/A-18 fighter aircraft.
• $705 million to purchase 20,244 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) for the Air Force and another 12,326 for the Navy.  These will replace and add to the weapons that were used during the Iraq war.
• $610 million for Boeing’s Airborne Laser program.
• $64 million for the purchase of one Boeing 737 to be used by the Navy for a designated C-40 transport aircraft.
• $1.7 billion for development of the Army’s Future Combat System.  Boeing, in a team with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), is the lead systems integrator for the Future Combat System, a new program that is identifying the promising systems and technologies for achieving the Army's vision of fielding an "objective force" beginning this decade.
  

            The bill also contains $1.2 billion to continue the conversion of the four retiring Trident submarines to conventional SSGN configurations.  Conversion work on two of the Tridents will be done at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, with conversion work on the first sub, USS Ohio, now taking place in the shipyard’s drydock.  The bill also adds $450 million to refuel and overhaul two additional nuclear fast attack submarines:  the USS Portsmouth (homeported in San Diego) and the USS Jacksonville (homeported in Norfolk, VA).   Although the work will be accomplished in other states, it will add to the Navy’s overall shipyard workload, Rep. Dicks said.

            Rep. Dicks said there are several other Washington State programs funded in the bill, including a boost to the development of a new medical ultrasound technology for stopping bleeding in battlefield conditions.  The technology, called “Remote Acoustic Hemostasis,” is being pioneered by the Applied Physics Lab (APL) at the University of Washington, working with the Army Medical Command.  It uses high intensity focused ultrasound waves to cauterize bleeding.   The conference panel approved a total of $3.5 million for the continued development of a portable system that could be used in the field to stop bleeding, one of the largest causes of death on the battlefield.  This amount is in addition to $7 million provided by Congress last year.

            The bill also boosts production of the MK-54 lightweight torpedo, produced by Raytheon Corp. in Keyport.  In the next fiscal year, the program will receive $42.6 million, an increase of $8.4 million beyond the amount originally requested in the Navy budget.  Eventually, the Navy expects to purchase 1,000 MK-54s for use by surface ships and P-3 Orion aircraft, with significant additional sales to foreign Navies also expected.

            The bill also contains an increase of $35 million to replace the outer wing panels on the EA-6B Prowler aircraft based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.  The outer wing panels on these aircraft have been suffering critical failures due to age and metal fatigue.  The funding provided, combined with additional funding from the war supplemental, will allow the Navy to fix the EA-6B fleet and eliminate some flight restrictions currently imposed on these aircraft.

Among the other Washington State items in the Fiscal Year 2004 defense appropriation bill are:

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