For Immediate Release

June 24, 2002

REP. DICKS DETAILS KITSAP IMPACT
OF 2003 DEFENSE SPENDING BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House appropriations committee today approved the defense appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, continuing funding for conversion of the four retiring Trident submarines to SSGN configurations, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Monday.

          Conversion work on at least two of the retiring Tridents will be done at PSNS starting in the next fiscal year.  Advance funding was approved in the current fiscal year; an additional $907.8 million was approved today by the appropriations committee to continue the effort.  

          Rep. Dicks also said that the defense bill includes an increase in funding – from $2 million in the current year to $6.7 million in FY 2003 -- for the National UUV Test & Evaluation Center at NUWC Keyport, begun by the Navy last year to organize test and evaluation work on all unmanned undersea vehicles.

          In approving next year’s Pentagon spending bill the panel also funded another significant step forward in the effort to purchase Boeing-built commercial airframes to replace retiring military aircraft.  The subcommittee agreed to provide a total of $596 million for the purchase of a Boeing 767-400ER aircraft and for engineering and development work next year to convert the plane – and up to 50 more – into a new reconnaissance platform called the “Multi-sensor Command and Control [MC2A]” aircraft. 

          The move follows the effort launched in the current budget year to allow  the Air Force to lease Boeing 767s to be used as aerial refueling tankers, replacing 40-year old 707s.  The cost-saving concept has been designed to utilize the large 767 as a “common wide-body” airframe that will replace a variety of older 707 aircraft now in use for specific military missions.   In addition to the needed replacement of the existing aircraft, the Pentagon will realize savings from sharply-reduced maintenance costs, greater fuel economy and common training and operations using the 767s, Rep. Dicks said.

          Rep. Dicks also added $10.4 million to the defense bill to accelerate a new medical use of ultrasound to stop 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 additional defense department funds would continue the development of a portable system that could be used in the battlefield to stop bleeding, one of the largest causes of death on the battlefield.

          “The death of Sgt. 1ST Class Nathan Chapman of Fort Lewis, who was killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan, served as a reminder of the need to find innovative ways of addressing the urgent needs of injured soldiers in the field, before they can even be transported to field hospitals,” commented Rep. Dicks.  “The progress we have seen in investigating acoustic hemostasis at APL offers great promise for stabilizing the wounded – keeping them alive until they can receive adequate medical or surgical care,” he said.

          The defense appropriations bill also includes funding for several other Kitsap area and Washington State programs, including:

• $6 million for the Navy’s Northwest Environmental Resource Center ,  a cooperative venture between Bremerton’s Concurrent Technologies Corporation and Navy Region Northwest.
• $2.5 million for additional installations of the Total Ship Information Management System on aircraft carriers.  The system has been developed by Bremerton’s AMSEC Corp.
• $3.5 million for Industrial Short Pulse Laser Development (Femtosecond Laser) by Bremerton ’s Extrude Hone Corp.
• $5.5 million for continued work on Extrude Hone’s 3-Dimensional Printing Metalworking Project.
• $4.5 million for modernization work on the Aircraft Carrier Tactical Support Center (ASW system) performed by Advanced Acoustic Concepts Corp. and NUWC Keyport.
• $5 million to Dimension 4 Corp for continued work converting Trident Sonar Manuals to digital form.
• Continued funding for the Apprentice Programs at PSNS, Keyport and Bangor.
• $1.5 million for Critical Asset Vulnerability Assessment at Sub Base Bangor.
• $2.5 million for expanded processing for intelligence data analysis by Applied Technical Systems of Bremerton.
• $6 million for MK 54 Torpedo Test and Evaluation work by the Raytheon Corp. in Kitsap County.

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