This legislation makes critical 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: ¡ï Bath Iron Works: $2.4945 billion for the procurement of two DDG-51 Arleigh-Burke Class Destroyers, including an additional $125 million in advanced procurement over the President¡¯s budget. Senator Collins was successful in clearing an amendment to extend the DDG-51 multi-year procurement by two years (from FY2005-FY2007), which would authorize an additional six DDGs. The DDG-51 is the backbone of the Navy¡¯s surface combatant fleet. $960.5 million for the DD(X) Class Program, an entirely new family of ships, for the Navy. $754.5 million for the LPD-17 Amphibious Assault Transport Ship program. Senator Collins also cleared an amendment that would add an additional $2.5 million, for a total of $7.5 million, for the DDG-51 Optimized Manning Initiative, which will enhance operational effectiveness and reduce manning and crew workload, without sacrificing crew safety or mission capability. This amendment will bring additional engineering work to Bath. $2 million for Marine Direct/Ship Service Cell Technology Verification/Trainer Project, which offers potential to accelerate shipboard installation of fuel efficient, reduced maintenance, reduced emission marine fuel cells on U.S. Naval Vessels.
¡ï Pratt & Whitney: $64 million for F-15 ¡°E-Kit¡± Modifications, which will reduce costs, improve reliability, and enhance flight safety. $60 million for Block 42F-16 Fighter Engine Modernization, which replaces the current F100-PW-220 engine with the F100-PW-229 engine.
¡ï Brunswick Naval Air Station: $98 million for P-3 Anti-Surface Warfare Improvements to the P-3''s ability to receive and process information, classify targets, and deliver weapons against surface targets. $9.83 million for an upgrade to the Air Traffic Control Tower, which will be used to support the squadrons stationed at Brunswick Naval Air Station.
¡ï Jackson Laboratory: $1.0 million for Genetics Research - Mice Modeling. This research is developing an understanding of biological differences that enhance the ability of soldiers to survive battlefield diseases and injuries. Senator Collins also engaged the Chairman of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee on the floor to discuss the to discuss the criticality of continued research and development of new capabilities in combat casualty care, including blood and tissue preservation.
¡ï Kittery-Portsmouth Naval Shipyard: $90 million in support of Navy operations and maintenance accounts to restore USS ANNAPOLIS workload to 2003. The restoration of $90 million for the depot maintenance period of the USS ANNAPOLIS will ensure that jobs are secure and the workload remains stable at the yard in FY2003. $15.2 million for anti-terrorism and force protection improvements. $5.7 million for High Performance Brush project. ¡ï University of Maine: $1.0 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. $1.0 million for Structural Reliability of Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) Composites. This technology is developing composite ship structures with dramatically reduced electronic and acoustic signatures. This project is being developed by the University of Maine, Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc., and Bath Iron Works. $4 million for Supercluster Distributed Memory Technology (SDMT). This technology is developing sophisticated computer simulations that predict the control forces exerted on a missile over its entire flight path. This project is being developed by the University of Maine and Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc.
¡ï Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System: $3.0 million for Ocean Modeling for Mine and Expeditionary Warfare. 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, man-made clutter, etc.
¡ï Sensor Research Development Corporation: $1 million for a Chemical/Biological Project, which continues research and development to develop rapid and highly sensitive detection for biological warfare agents.
¡ï General Dynamics Armament Systems, Saco Operations: $16.663 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. $3.0 million for the Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launcher (ALGL)/STRIKER 47 - Special Operating Forces. $1.197 million for the Objective Crew Served Weapon (OCSW), this weapon will provide the dismounted warfighter an ultra lightweight, two-man portable, crew served weapon system with overwhelming lethality. ¡ï Fiber Materials, Inc., Applied Thermal Sciences, Inc., and Technology Systems, Inc.: $2.0 million for the Ceramic and Carbon Based Materials Program, this program will develop ceramic and carbon based materials in support of heat shields for reentry bodies and hypersonic vehicles. This project was not funded in the House version of the bill. $6.0 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. $10 million for the Small Kill Vehicle Technology development program.
¡ï Former Naval Station - Call Center: $1.5 million for a human resource customer service call center pilot initiative. The Navy initiated this pilot call center in this area to help compensate for the loss of civilian and military jobs at the former Cutler naval station. This amendment, sponsored by Senator Snowe and Collins, would extend the pilot program and authorize $1.5 million for the operations of the call center in FY2003.
¡°Inclusion of these projects in the Senate bill is a critical first step toward funding them in the coming year.¡± said Senator Collins. The next step is to reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate authorization bills, and there is also the defense appropriations bills that will have to be acted on before the end of this fiscal year. (Appropriations bills fund the authorizations.)
This legislation also includes a bill Senator Collins introduced ¨C The Small Business Contracts Opportunity Act, S. 2463, which expands opportunities for small businesses to bid on government contracts, thus allowing them to sell more products and services to federal agencies. The bill directs the DoD to prohibit the consolidation of contract requirements in excess of $5 million absent a written determination that the benefits of consolidation substantially exceed the benefits of alternative contracting approaches that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation. Also to assist the business community, many of which are small businesses, the bill includes the authority for an additional $5 million (bringing the total to $24 million) for the Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP). The PTAP provides invaluable one-on-one assistance to guide businesses through the complex procurement process.
Additionally, Senator Collins introduced S. 2462, the Selected Reserve Educational Assistance, which would increase the educational assistance in the Montgomery GI Bill for our Selected Reserve personnel. In the FY2003 Defense Authorization bill, a General Accounting Office report has been directed to investigate and review the compensation and benefits of our reserve forces, including Montgomery GI Bill benefits. This is the first step to raising the level of awareness, and the educational assistance benefits, for our Selected Reserve personnel. The Senate also acted on a proposed amendment, cosponsored by Senator Collins, that will provide alternative authority on concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans'' disability compensation for service-connected disabled veterans. This essentially authorizes concurrent receipt of retired pay and veterans disability compensation for all disabled military retirees eligible for non-disability retirement.
Another amendment co-sponsored by Senator Collins addresses the issue of maintaining a level of shipbuilding that is consistent with a strong Naval capability. The amendment instructs the Navy to submit to Congress a long-range plan for the construction of Naval ships, and that its plan provide, in detail, for the construction of combatant and support ships for the next 30 consecutive fiscal years.
The overall Defense Authorization bill will provide $393.4 billion for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy and includes approximately $9.4 billion for various shipbuilding programs.
A few other highlights of this bill include: a 4.1 percent across-the-board pay raise for all military personnel; an increase in the housing allowance that will reduce average out-of-pocket expenses for off-post housing to 7.5 percent in 2002, continuing progress toward the goal of eliminating average out-of-pocket housing expenses by 2005; and an additional $40 million, bringing the total to $252.1 million, for the clean up of formerly used defense sites.
Upon passage of this bill, Senator Collins said, ¡°Overall I believe that we have crafted a spending plan supports our men and women in uniform, and will continue to reverse the decline in defense spending seen during the previous Administration.¡±
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