"This legislation will provide our armed forces the state of the art resources they need to maintain primacy on the battlefield, on the open seas, and in the air," said Senator Collins. "The agreement also reflects the critical role that Maine plays in meeting our nation''s defense and security needs. The funding authorized in this bill reflects the faith our government has in the workers, builders, designers, engineers, and researchers associated with these Maine firms."
The bill will provide authorization for $343.3 billion for national defense programs, the amount requested by the administration in the amended fiscal year 2002 budget request. This is an increase of just over 10 % the fiscal year 2001 authorized levels. This legislation will make important investments in a variety of projects important to both our national defense and to the state of Maine.
Highlights of the Maine-related programs are:
Bath Iron Works: The $2.966 billion for the procurement of three DDG-51 Arleigh-Burke Class Destroyers, the backbone of the Navy''s surface fleet. $593.5 million for the DD(X) Destroyer Program, an entirely new class of high-technology land attack destroyer capable of fulfilling all present destroyer missions with the addition of a land attack missile capability. $421.3 Million for the LPD-17 Amphibious Assault Transport Ship, a new class of amphibious assault ship, which is essential to modernizing and maintaining 12 Marine Corps Amphibious Ready Groups. $1 million for the DDG-51 Composite Twisted Rudder Project, which will eliminate DDG-51 class rudder cavitation induced corrosion, and reduce detectability. $3 million for the Marine Direct/Ship Service Fuel Cell Technology Verification/Trainer Project, which will establish a marine fuel cell technology validation and training capability for engineering students, U.S. Navy, and commercial marine operators. The Senator also secured language sustaining an economic rate of procurement and adequate production for the DDG-51destroyer industrial base. The language in the bill sustains a procurement rate of 3 DDG-51s in FY03.
Pratt & Whitney: $49.4 million for F-15 "E-Kit" Modifications, which will reduce costs, improve reliability, and enhance flight safety. $30 million for Block 42F-16 Fighter Engine Modernization, which replaces the current F100-PW-220 engine with the F100-PW-229 engine.
Brunswick Naval Air Station: $87.4 million for P-3 Anti-Surface Warfare Improvements, which is a quantum upgrade in the P-3''s ability to receive and process information, classify targets, and deliver weapons against surface target.
University of Maine: $1 million for the Supercluster Distributed Memory Technology that represents a low-cost approach to running necessary and complex computer simulations. $1 million for the Modular Advance Composite Hull Forms, which focuses on designing, fabricating, and testing a prototype structure for use on high-speed, hybrid surface ships that lead to high- speed troop transports as well as civilian ships. This project is being developed through the University of Maine (Orono) and Applied Thermal Science, Inc. in Sanford. $2 million for Intelligent Spatial Technologies for Smart Maps, which will be used to support spatio-temporal database research; visualization and user interaction testing; enhanced image processing and automated feature extraction research. (This $2 million includes $1 million in additional authorization of funds appropriated in FY2001.) $1.0 million for Ocean Modeling for Mine and Expeditionary Warfare/ Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS). This technology is critical for effective mine and submarine warfare, which are dependent on correct and timely environmental data such as numerical models of ocean parameters, including surface currents, waves, wind speed and direction, sea surface temperature, bottom contour and content, thermal layer behavior, and man-made clutter, etc.
Sensor Research Development Corporation: $2 million for a Chemical/Biological Project, which continues research and development to develop thin film sensors for light weight man-portable chemical agent detectors.
General Dynamics Armament Systems, Saco Operations: $2.5 million for the Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launcher/STRIKER system, which provides Special Operations Forces with a dramatic increase in overall survivability. $34.826 million for the MK 19 Mod 3 Grenade Machine Gun. The MK 19 remains a primary force protection component for infantry, Scouts, Military Police, and Combat Support Units.
Fiber Materials, Inc., Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc., and Technology Systems, Inc.: $10 million for the Atmospheric Interceptor Technology (AIT) Program, the only broadband-based technology development program focused on ballistic missile interceptors that operates within the atmosphere. (Research and Development on this technology is conducted at Fiber Materials, Inc. in Biddeford and Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc. in Sanford.) $2 million for the Reentry Systems Application Program, which focuses on design, development, and in-service support of current and modernized reentry systems to insure a functioning technical capability during reentry. (This technology is being developed at Fiber Materials, Inc. in Biddeford.). $3.25 million for Future Missile Technology Integration, technology for the next generation of tactical missiles being developed to meet the requirement for hypervelocity and to be deployed on a mobile launching system. (This technology is being developed by Intermat, Inc. in Presque Isle, a subsidiary of Fiber Materials, Inc. of Biddeford and Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc. of Sanford.) $4.3 million for Laser Welding and Cutting, which was initiated last year by Congress to support potential cost and weight savings and to enable creative designs and shapes to be fabricated. (Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc., of Sanford and Technology Systems, Inc., of Wiscasset, is developing this technology.)
Land Conveyances: 1)Winter Harbor - The language in the bill authorizes the conveyance of a 26-acre parcel of land that the Navy will hand over to the National Park Service in 2002 for a research and education center. The bill also encourages the Navy to participate in the transition of the base, and authorizes the transfer of an additional 485 acres of base property to the state of Maine or a community. 2) Loring Pipe Line/Mack Point Tank Farm - Language in the bill instructs the conveyance, at no cost, of a petroleum terminal at Mack Point in Searsport from the U.S. Air Force to the state of Maine, specifically the Maine Port Authority, as well as a section of pipeline, currently connected to the Mack Point Tank Farm that provided fuel products to the former Loring Air Force Base. Transfer of the tank farm furthers the goal of developing Mack Point into a major freight and shipping terminal.
Senator Collins also successfully amended the bill to include a provision that would allow military spouses to choose physicians for ob-gyn and prenatal care, as well as a provision to authorize the Secretary of Transportation in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to waive vehicle weight limits on interstate routes in the state of Maine. The waiver permits trucks carrying jet fuel to travel on the interstate rather than on secondary roads through dangerous intersections and residential areas.
"I believe that we have crafted a spending plan that strengthens our military, supports our men and women in uniform and continues our course of maintaining the best equipped, best trained fighting force in the world."