BIDEN/CARPER Announce Funding for Delaware’s Defense & Military Programs

 

Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Tom Carper (D-DE) announced today that the U.S. Senate has approved $116.263 million in federal funding for Delaware’s military and defense programs. The funding is part of the FY2009 Department of Defense and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bills, which were included in the Continuing Resolution passed by the Senate today. 

 

Overall, the Continuing Resolution provides $487.7 billion for 2009 national defense programs and $72.9 billion for military construction and veterans programs.  The bill includes funding for a 3.9 percent pay raise for military personnel and to continue growing the size of the Army and Marine Corps.  The Continuing Resolution prevents an increase in TRICARE fees and continues efforts to improve the care of wounded warriors by allocating $25.8 billion for military medical care and $47.6 billion for veterans medical care, claims processors and facilities.    

 

Included in the Continuing Resolution are the following Delaware-related projects:

 

FY2009 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Section:

 

The Delaware National Guard:

$11.6 million to replace the Air Guard’s under-sized and out-of –date 1952 C-130 maintenance shops.

$28 million for the Army Guard’s Aviation Support Facility to protect, maintain, and operate UH-60s.

$3.2 million to provide a secure facility for the Air Guard’s new Information Operations Squadron.

 

Dover Air Force Base:

$19 million for a new fitness center.

$3.373 million to bring a 55,000 barrel fuel storage tank into compliance with existing regulations.

 

Armed Forces Reserve Center in Wilmington:

$11.53 million for the Navy’s portion of this new joint reserve center.

 

TOTAL: $76.703 million

 

FY2009 Department of Defense Appropriations Section:

 

$1.6 million for Nano-Intelligent Detection System (NIDS) to further refine the NIDS handheld detector so that it is more effective in harsh military field conditions and more cost effective.  It is expected to save the military $25 million every year. (ANP Technologies, Inc., Newark, DE)

 

$1.36 million to allow the Civil Air Patrol in Delaware and across the nation to continue their search and rescue missions and youth education programs. (Civil Air Patrol)

 

$2 million for the optimized M-25 soldier fuel cell system expected to meet the Army’s goal of quickly creating a reasonably priced, lightweight, reliable, and more powerful power source for light infantry divisions in Iraq. (DuPont Fuel Cells, Wilmington, DE)*

 

$1.6 million to create more effective prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for anthrax and the plague using an innovative, safer, plant-based technology. (Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, Newark, DE)

 

$1.6 million to provide above-the-neck chemical and biological protection to aircrews that is less burdensome than current protective gear and can be quickly donned or doffed in-flight. (ILC Dover LP, Frederica, DE)

 

$4 million to provide two AN/TSC-156 Phoenix TSST mobile satellite communications terminals for the Delaware Army National Guard’s 261st Signal Brigade.( Delaware National Guard, Wilmington, DE)

 

$1.6 million to establish an efficient domestic production capability for reactive plastic CO2 absorbents, which are an integral part of life support equipment included on Navy submarines, SCUBA re-breathers, smoke hoods, in-place shelters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear filtration systems. (Micropore Inc., Newark, DE)

 

$5 million for a vectored thrust ducted propeller compound helicopter technology flight demonstration program that will meet the Army’s need for helicopters with greater speed, range, survivability, reliability, and readiness specified in the Army Future Force Requirements TRADOC Pamphlet 525-66. (Piasecki Aircraft Corporation test facility, Wilmington, DE)

 

$3 million to demonstrate and customize software to meet the Future Naval Capabilities Force Health Protection and Warfighter Protection goals of improving military medical care in asymmetric battlefields, non-battlefield care, and responses to infectious disease situations. (Quantum Leap Innovation Inc., Newark, DE)

 

$1.6 million to provide a new generation of wearable physiological monitoring systems (e.g. soldier’s heart rate, respiration and activity), without hindering the performance of military personnel. This data will improve tactical decision-making on the battlefield and allow for more effective military training. (Textronics Inc., Wilmington, DE)

 

$1.6 million to accelerate the development of small, inexpensive millimeter wave imaging converters that allow inexpensive, lightweight, off-the-shelf cameras to be used by the military to see through fog, mist, smoke, and sand. (University of Delaware, Newark, DE)

 

$3 million to allow the Army’s Composites Applied Research and Technology Center to successfully insert more durable, modular, lighter, and protective composite armor and structures into its tactical vehicle fleets and the Future Combat System more quickly and affordably. (University of Delaware, Newark , DE)

 

$2 million to begin a multi-year effort to develop the technologies necessary to apply existing aerospace composite and other new shipbuilding innovations to Navy shipbuilding. This will allow the Navy to build advanced ships more economically and to build ships that are more capable, have a longer service life, and are less costly to maintain. (University of Delaware, Newark , DE)

 

$2.4 million to meet the Army and Marine Corps’ need for battlefield ambulance shelters that have ballistic protection from small arms, light fragmentation, and blasts. (University of Delaware, Newark, DE)*

 

$4 million to accelerate the Marine Corps’s deployment of the Combat Desert Jacket to all Marines, which will contribute to overall combat effectiveness and morale. (W.L. Gore & Associates, Newark, DE/Elkton, MD)

 

$3.2 million to accelerate the Army National Guard’s deployment of second generation Extended Cold Weather Clothing Systems (ECWCS) to all soldiers improving protection in all weather conditions, including cold, wind, rain and sandstorms. (W.L. Gore & Associates, Newark, DE/Elkton, MD)

 

TOTAL: $39.56 million

 

* Signifies requests made by Sen. Biden, but not made by Sen. Carper.

 

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