U.S. Sen. Harkin Announces more than .2 Million for defense projects across Iowa

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced numerous investments for Iowa in the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations bill.  Funding has been approved for the Rock Island Arsenal, the Midwest Regional Counterdrug Training Center, Rockwell Collins and a variety of other Iowa businesses, colleges and communities.  The bill still must pass the Senate before it is signed into law by the President.  Harkin is a senior member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

“This bill supports innovative projects that strengthen our nation’s defenses and boost Iowa’s economy,” said Harkin.  “The work our local businesses and universities do provides our military with cutting edge equipment, technology and information.  It gives our service men and women, our military families and the defense community the funding and tools necessary to keep America safe and secure and it provides national assistance to those Americans who are having a tough time in this economic downturn.”

In addition to funding for Iowa’s defense related projects, the bill contains an extension of COBRA and unemployment benefits for those looking for work, nutrition assistance for low income families and an extension of highway and small business loan assistance through the end of February, 2010.

Details of the funding are as follows:

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL:

This assistance to the Arsenal lowers their operating costs, which are used to determine what they must charge for competitive work within the military.  In turn, this boosts their ability to acquire business, which creates jobs in the Quad Cities.

Arsenal Support Program Initiative (ASPI) for Rock Island Arsenal: ,600,000.  ASPI encourages commercial use of underutilized facilities aboard Rock Island Arsenal, contributing to the increased use of the base’s skill set and encouraging commercial firms to utilize and lease arsenal facilities to reduce product and ownership costs.

Natural Gas Firetube Boiler Demonstration, Rock Island Arsenal: 0,000.  The Rock Island Arsenal project will demonstrate new firetube boiler (Super Boiler) technology with 15 percent higher efficiency, 90 percent lower emissions, water savings and multi-fuel capability at the Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, IL facilities.

Rock Island Arsenal Roof Replacement: ,800,000.  Building 299 is a 775,000 square foot warehouse located on Rock Island Arsenal that was originally constructed in 1942.

MIDWEST COUNTERDRUG TRAINING CENTER (MCTC):

,000,000 -  Since beginning operations in January 2003, MCTC, located in Johnston, has trained over 65,000 students, mainly state and local law enforcement officers, from all 50 states and territories in handling drug trafficking and substance abuse.

IOWA UNIVERSITIES

Iowa State University’s Aircraft Evaluation Readiness Initiative (AERI): ,400,000.  The program brings the University’s nondestructive evaluation and inspection expertise to bear on U.S. Air Force (USAF) problems, and several laboratory initiatives now are ready for transition to field testing and deployment.

Advanced, Live, Virtual and Constructive Training Systems, Iowa State University: ,800,000. The Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) at Iowa State University has begun to develop advanced software prototypes for LVC training that dramatically enhance the ability of a training officers to quickly create powerful training experiences. These systems, once refined for use in the field, will decrease the time required to train warfighters, save taxpayers’ money, and reduce fatalities.

Epidemiologic Health Survey, University of Iowa: 0,000.  Funding will continue a project to study health effects of munitions industry work. This study is the largest cohort epidemiologic study of cancer and mortality in the munitions industry.

Multi-Utility Materials for Army Future Combat Systems, Iowa State University: ,200,000.  This initiative is designed to enable Iowa State University, in partnership with Florida A&M University and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, to support the U.S. Army in developing and evaluating weapons and protective armor materials, with emphasis on survivability.

New Vaccines to Fight Respiratory Disease and Central Nervous Disorders, Iowa State University: ,800,000.  The collaborative initiative between ISU and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in novel vaccines to fight respiratory and central nervous system diseases focuses on developing single dose vaccines that can provide protective immunity against airborne bacterial pathogens.

Next Generation Manufacturing Technologies Initiative (NGMTI), University of Iowa: ,600,000.  NGMTI is a collaborative effort between the University of Iowa and Rockwell Collins, focused on the development of a combined, three-dimensional (3D) electromechanical design visualization system, along with decision aids to assess lifecycle costs and manufacturability, which offers significant benefits to the design process.

SOAR (Student Online Achievement Resources), University of Northern Iowa: ,000,000.  SOAR is designed to help military families who often relocate to different states and school districts by providing online assessment and instructional programs to help schools, students and parents identify academic strengths and weaknesses, and to provide added internet-based instruction, as well as interactive components to help military dependent students address targeted skills.

Spray Technique Analysis and Research for Defense (STAR4D), University of Northern Iowa: ,200,000.  STAR4D trains military painters in the proper and efficient application of Chemical Agent Resistant Coating (CARC) and other corrosion-preventative materials.

Trauma Response Simulation Training, Des Moines University: ,200,000.  This funding would support the creation of a training program between the Iowa Simulation Center for Patient Safety and Clinical Skills at Des Moines University and the Iowa National Guard. This partnership will fill a need for a centrally located and local training facility for all levels of professional citizen soldiers. The facility is set up to integrate the training of medical soldiers on mass casualty, trauma, and routine emergency care.

IOWA COMPANIES

Air National Guard’s F-16C Improved Communications Suite (ARC 210), Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids: ,600,000.  The Air National Guard’s (ANG) F-16C fighter aircraft communications suite is currently being upgraded with an ARC-210 radio that provides an improved, Secure Line-of-Sight (SLOS)  and a Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) satellite communications capability.  This additional funding will be used for a second ARC-210, which is required in order to conduct simultaneous SLOS and BLOS communications.

E-6B Strategic Communications Upgrade (VLF-TX), Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids: ,400,000.  The Navy’s E-6B is a manned airborne communications relay platform designed to provide a survivable, reliable, endurable airborne Command and Control Communications link between the President, Secretary of Defense and U.S. strategic (ballistic missile submarine) forces.

Low Cost Military Global Position System (GPS) Receiver, Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids: ,200,000.  The Department of Defense has established the need for low cost, domestically produced military grade Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. This additional funding will assist in the development of that capability.

Galfenol Energy Harvesting, ETREMA Products, Inc., Ames: ,800,000.  The U.S. Navy has a goal of reducing crew sizes, moving toward all-electric designs and increasing survivability of its vessels. A key strategy is the use of remote sensors to monitor areas and functions of a ship normally covered directly by personnel. The objective of the project is to develop this technology.

HyperAcute Vaccine Development, BioProtection Systems Corporation, Ames: ,600,000.  BioProtection Systems Corporation continues its work to advance HyperAcute Technology that 1) enhances current vaccines, making them more effective and practical for use, 2) generates vaccines for known threats, where a vaccine does not exist and 3) develops vaccine platforms for unknown agents.

Integrated Manifold and Tube Ceramic Oxygen Generator, Carleton Life Support Systems, Davenport: ,800,000.  This program is designed to satisfy a U.S. Navy need for a follow-on oxygen system, which will provide less of an impact on the aircraft engine, reduce the maintenance workload and increase aircrew mission time.

Navy AIT Logistics Modernization, Intermec Technologies Corporation, Cedar Rapids: ,200,000.  The Navy AIT Logistics Modernization Initiative meets an urgent requirement to modernize the naval supply and logistics structure with up-to-date automatic identification technology (AIT) and radio frequency identification (RFID) applications to achieve real-time tracking of inventories and business operations.

Portable Rapid Bacterial Warfare Detection Unit, Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc., Ames: ,000,000.  Funds will help development of a rapid biohazard identification system that represents a vast improvement over current bacterial and viral identification systems.

Self Powered, Lightweight Flexible Display Unit on a Plastic Substrate, PowerFilm, Inc., Ames: ,040,000.  This project would provide the Army with an American made working prototype of a self powered, lightweight, flexible display to help improve soldier situational awareness and battlefield survivability.

Shared Vision, Mechdyne, Corp., Marshalltown: ,400,000.  Shared Vision provides soldiers in the field with the ability to improve their mission planning capabilities, allowing them to be more accurate in a shorter period of time compared to current methods. The improvements to Shared Vision will significantly increase the ease of integration onto the tactical network in theater while providing additional capabilities for mission planning/briefing, situational awareness and after action reviews.

Wireless Medical Monitoring System (WiMed) Athena GTX, Des Moines: ,400,000.  The Wireless Medical Monitoring System (WiMed) stays with a patient throughout triage and care. WiMed works wirelessly with standard blood pressure cuffs or a simple highly mobile forehead stick-on sensor and integrates many inputs, including: pulse oximetry, blood pressure, temperature, skin humidity and electrocardiogram.

Ultra Light Utility Vehicles for the National Guard, Polaris Defense, Spirit Lake: ,480,000.  This project provides funding for Ultra Light Utility Vehicles (ULUVs) for the National Guard. The National Guard recognizes that ULUVs are an affordable and flexible alternative to larger vehicles at less than ,000 unit cost.

ADDITIONAL NATIONAL ASSISTANCE:

Unemployment Insurance: Extends expanded unemployment benefits, including increased payouts and longer duration of benefits, through February 28, 2010.

Help with Health Insurance for Unemployed Workers (COBRA): Extends from nine to 15 months the 65% COBRA health insurance subsidy for individuals who have lost their jobs. The job lost eligibility date is extended in the provision to February 28, 2010. Approximately seven million people benefited from the premium subsidy provided in the Recovery Act.

Nutrition Assistance: Includes language ensuring the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will have sufficient funding to meet the growing demand for nutrition assistance from modest-income families and provides 0 million in additional funding for state administrative expenses to speed up processing of applications. SNAP participation increased 18% in the last year to over 37 million people.

Small Business Loans: Allows the Small Business Administration (SBA) to continue two temporary enhancements to its loan guarantee program through February 28, 2010 to make loans more attractive to borrowers and lenders and to free up capital, with one raising the percentage of loan amounts that the SBA can guarantee to 90% and the other allowing SBA to waive or reduce loan fees. Small businesses represent a major engine for the U.S. economy, but many small business owners have had a difficult time securing needed loans in these tight economic times. The extension is fully offset .

Surface Transportation Authorization Extension: Extends the authorization for the highway, transit, highway safety and motor carrier safety programs of the Department of Transportation until February 28, 2010.

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