Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced that the Department of Defense Appropriations bill conference report filed late yesterday included $25.1 million for military projects in Western New York. The House and Senate must approve the bill before being sent to the President and signed into law.

"This is great news for Western New York," said Schumer. "Additional funds will not only boost the area economy, but also put Western New York and New York State at the forefront of defense technology. As the men and women of our military bravely serve our country all over the world, the funding for these Western New York defense projects will vastly improve national security technology and will give our armed forces an even greater edge."

“This is wonderful news for Western New York. This is cutting-edge defense technology being made locally, supporting our men and women in uniform and our national security. These are important investments in local companies and research institutions that will in turn help the economy as well. I look forward to their final approval by the Senate,” Senator Clinton said.

Funding in the FY 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill includes –

CUBRC – Lens X Hypervelocity Ground Testing - $1.6 million

CUBRC has designed and tested a prototype of a revolutionary ground test facility capable of performing ground testing of full-scale missile and space systems at Mach numbers from 10 to 22. These funds will fully complete, instrument and test this facility prior to the demonstration of its performance in investigating the communication, guidance and aero-heating problems associated with advanced missile and space systems to mitigate the risks and costs associated with the new hypervelocity missile systems in initial development by the DOD. CUBRC is a strategic partnership whose mission is to bring together scientists and engineers from academia and industry to provide the synergism to expand the research capabilities of all and provide significant growth opportunities in Western New York.

Carwell Products – Army and USMC Corrosion Prevention and Control Program - $3.6 million

This funding will be used to expand the Department of Defense’s highly successful Corrosion Prevention and Control (CPC) Program and make it more responsive to current and future operations. This program focuses on extending the useful life of all Army and Marine Corps tactical ground and ground support equipment by reducing maintenance requirements and associated costs due to corrosion damage. The authorized funding would also create more highly effective mobile corrosion service teams (CST). Both the Army and The Marine Corps are currently using these CSTs with great effect. The mobile teams are most useful when used in lower density troop areas and where the use of fixed Corrosion Control Centers is not practical or cost effective. This effort is being expanded to include ports, depots and Army Propositioned Stock locations as well.

NanoDynamics, Inc – Portable SOFC/JP-8 Demonstrator - $2 million

The Army has identified a critical need for lightweight man portable power, chargers, and power management for dismounted soldiers. In order to simplify logistics, the Army has selected JP-8 as the single fuel for future use. All vehicles and fuel consuming systems such as generators will be fueled by JP-8 in the future. Work has already begun work to scale-up a small compact portable solid oxide fuel cell system to develop a technology demonstration system that produces 250 Watts of power utilizing JP-8 fuel. Past research has focused on the development of cells that were electrochemically efficient when operating on reformed JP-8 fuel and has been successful in developing a cell that has demonstrated no power loss when operating on JP-8 reformate. NanoDynamics will take the package and integrate them with the pumps, fans, fuel system, and control electronics necessary to produce a portable 50 Watt system. The system development work will based upon the existing NanoDynamics RevolutionTM 50 portable fuel cell system that was developed for commercial applications.

Northrop Grumman Amherst - Joint Threat Emitter – $14 million The Joint Threat Emitter (JTE) system simulates electronic combat signals and is designed to provide realistic electronic warfare training for pilots and aircrew members. JTE has the capability to generate six modern threats from one platform and replaces aging, more expensive, single threat-per-platform units, which are more costly to support and do not have the flexibility to generate modern combat environments. The JTE capabilities, including the highly lethal ‘double digit’ threats, add an essential element to combat training ranges. The system is specifically designed to allow spiral upgrades to ensure future threats are quickly integrated into its design. This funding will assist the Department of Defense in purchasing additional JTEs for three programs: Joint Threat Emitter for PTA, Joint Threat Emitter Mountain Home AFB, and Joint Threat Emitter for the US Air Force.

DRS-Electronic Warfare and Network Systems (DRS-EWNS) – UMTE Modernization - $2.6 million

Federal funds will go to DRS – Electronic Warfare and Network Systems for the UMTE Modernization project. Money for the UMTE program will be used to upgrade four existing systems located at one of the key ranges at the Nellis Test and Training Range in Nevada. The continuing proliferation of surface to air missiles and other anti-aircraft presents a significant threat to our military forces. This upgrade of the UMTE systems takes advantage of mature and electronic warfare threat simulation technology and will result in more realistic training, and increased aircrew survivability, while providing substantial savings. DRS received $8 million of federal funding for UMTE modernization in FY 06.

DRS-Electronic Warfare and Network Systems (DRS-EWNS) – Multi-spectral Threat Emitter Systems - $1.3 million

Federal funds will go to DRS-Electronic Warfare and Network Systems (DRS-EWNS) Multi-spectral Threat Emitter Systems. The mobile MTES’s will support a number of East Coast electronic warfare training ranges for stand alone and joint force exercises. The multi-spectral aspects of MTES have the ability to stimulate multiple aircraft sensors with one EW threat simulator on the ground. A MTES yields a higher return on investment for the Government and it meets joint force guidelines for training characteristics. DRS received $2.1 million of federal funding for MTES in FY06.

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