$48.3 Million for Companies in Flagler, Seminole & Volusia Counties

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-7th District) today announced that defense contractors in Central Florida will receive federal funds through legislation that will be given final approval by Congress today. Funds are included in a Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations package that was passed by the Senate last night and was cleared by the House this afternoon.

“This funding will be a big boost to securing new employment opportunities for Central Florida’s defense industry,” Mica stated. “These defense projects will not only benefit our military and war efforts but will provide high paying jobs for our local economy.”

Volusia County:

The defense measure includes $11.7 million for the Advanced Bradley Full-crew Interactive Skills Trainer (AB-FIST). These simulators attach directly to vehicles and provide hands-on gunnery training for entire tank crews, helping to prepare them for combat. The Army National Guard considers these training systems, built by Raydon Corporation, as their top priority. Located in Daytona Beach, Raydon Corp also received $2.6 million to produce Tabletop Gunnery Trainers and Tabletop Full-Fidelity Trainers (TGT/TFT) which are portable convoy, gunnery, and maneuver training systems for National Guard units currently deployed in the Global War on Terror.

Raydon also produces HMMWV and Tactical Truck Crew Trainers, which are multi-functional simulation systems for conducting convoy training under battle conditions. This equipment replicates real-life missions through neighborhoods in Iraq and elsewhere and is essential for mission training. Raydon will be eligible to compete for $24.5 million provided in the defense bill for this system.

In addition, the federal government will be providing $1 million for Medium Offboard Distributed Acoustic Sensors (Medium-N), which are remote sensors easily deployed in coastal ocean areas to protect against hostile submarines. The Navy supports these new technologies to replace the manned platforms currently in place to defend our homeland. Sparton Defense Electronics of DeLeon Springs will produce this equipment.

Ocean Design, Inc. (ODI) of Ormond Beach will also receive $1 million for the Littoral Gateway Concept program, which is a fiber and electrical cable interconnect system for acoustic sensors, detection sensors and video power docking stations. The Gateway system will act as the hub for information and power distribution throughout the underwater battle space.

Flagler County:

$1 million has been allocated for WMD Civil Support Team Trainers. ECS of Bunnell is developing this training system that will provide support to civil authorities in the event of an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction. National Guard teams can provide civil authorities with the expertise and capabilities necessary for responding to a chemical, biological or nuclear attack. These funds will contribute to the expansion of training programs for these emergency response teams.

Seminole County:

Electronic Warfare Associates (EWA) of Lake Mary will obtain $1.5 million for developing Electronic Battlefield Fusion for the Marine Corps to automatically integrate reconnaissance, communications and intelligence information from the battle field. Currently, this information must be processed manually which is both time consuming and often leads to targeting errors. This new software connectivity system will be deployed to fully integrate each element of the battle, mission plans, and evolving intelligence.

Finally, Matthews Associates of Sanford will participate in a $5 million contract to develop and produce Multi-Role Intermediate Support Craft for the Marine Corps. This craft will be capable of surface and underwater deployment and will be vital for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. Matthews will produce the lithium-ion battery and charging systems that will be used to power this new technology.

Additional information on Rep. Mica's support of local industry is also available on this website.