(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) today announced that she has secured $87 million in federal defense work for Washington state companies in the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations bill. Murray, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, voted for the Senate bill today at a meeting of the full committee. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill Thursday.
“Today, we funded leading-edge technologies to protect and equip our men and women in uniform, and we secured $87 million in economic activity for Washington state,” Murray said. “These contracts will create more than 400 high skill, high wage jobs at home, and I’m so proud to partner with the great companies we have working to bring the best technologies to our military. Washington state companies are already seeing their technologies save lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. With this funding, we’ll be able to do even more to bring more of our soldiers, sailors and airmen home safely to their families.”
Senator Murray secured the following earmarks in the Senate FY 2006 Defense Appropriations bill:
Puget Sound Region
Nomad Helmet Mounted Display for Stryker
Brigades Microvision, Bothell
$11.2 million
This funding will provide Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs), helmets with a day- and night-readable, see-through, display of battlefield information on their eye-shield. This technology allows the Stryker vehicle commander to scan his immediate terrain and direct the vehicle while maintaining his battlefield situational awareness. Without the HMD, the commander must move inside the vehicle to view to the combat system displays. The funds Murray secured will purchase and field 1,599 Nomad HMDs for the next three Stryker Brigade Combat Teams scheduled to deploy to Iraq: 172d SBCT (Alaska), 2/25 SBCT (Hawaii) and 3/2 SBCT (Washington). The 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) has conducted early operator evaluations of 110 first- and second-generation Nomad HMD while in Iraq. User feedback has been extremely positive.
Tug Boat Craft
J.M. Martinac Shipyard, Tacoma
$9.8 million
This funding will purchase two Navy Harbor Tugs to be stationed within Navy Region Pacific Northwest. The tug boats will provide general ship assist, harbor towing, and general and nuclear emergency response to U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines (SSBNs) at three Navy facilities within Puget Sound and in the open ocean between Port Angeles and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Secondary missions include augmentation of force protection, marine firefighting, transport of boarding teams and assisting the Military Sealift Command when logistics ships call at Puget Sound terminals. All six existing Navy Harbor Tugs are over 35 years old. The single-screw/single-rudder design of these tugs is outmoded, and their maneuvering capabilities are limited. Despite an aggressive and costly maintenance program, these craft have exceeded their useful service life. Spares for these engines are challenge to obtain. New, 3600-horsepower, azimuthing-stern-drive (ASD) tugs will greatly improve operational scheduling of arrivals and departures of surface ships and SSBNs, improve the safe handling of these assets, offer better cost-effective maintenance, and potentially assist with charter-and-hire cost savings as well as increased utilization and cost sharing by other Naval and government entities.
MIOX On-the-Move Individual Water Purification System
Cascade Designs, Seattle
$5 million
This funding will allow Cascade Designs to continue developing an individual water purifier system (IWPS) for the U.S. Marine Corps. Conventional water-purification systems use chlorine, iodine pills or pump filtration devices that are costly and heavy, and produce water with bad taste and residual untreated contaminants. The MIOX On-the-Move Individual Water Purification System is a modular, mission-specific, portable system will be integrated with the Marine Corps’ Infantry Load Bearing Equipment (ILBE), essentially a “camel-back” water carrying device, and produce drinking water that meets Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. This technology produces purified water using electricity from a lithium ion battery to convert table salt into a powerful, mixed-oxidant disinfectant. The solution, which takes under one minute to mix, can be quickly added to the hydration pack integrated within an ILBE and provide safes drinking water within 30 minutes. This battery/salt purifier technology was field tested by the Marine Corps in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, and was shown to offer safe, palatable drinking water in a lightweight, reduced footprint. The technology provides the added benefits of disinfecting hydration packs, which can often contain lingering contaminants, and inactivation of extremely resistant microorganisms, including Anthrax, by 99.99 percent.
Immunochemical Biological/Chemical Threat Agent Detector
Combimatrix, Everett
$4 million
The Immunological Biological/Chemical Agent Detector will be suitable for both battlefield and homeland defense uses. The sensor system promises to be accurate, rapid-response, cost-effective, and readily deployable. This device, with the patented and commercially available biochip microarray technology at its core, has proven the ability to detect extremely low levels of many distinct biological and chemical warfare agents. Its immunochemical detection approach affords it significant advantages in speed that will be coupled with genomic detection for validation and almost no false positives. The requested funding will be used to integrate chemical threat agent detection against small molecules, such as chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals. Using a single microarray approach for both biological and chemical agent detection will support a single detector system that can be small, simple and versatile. The project is being managed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the cooperative work will continue with the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) and the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) for execution of the project.
Fuel Cell Hybrid Generating System – Ramgen Technology
Ramgen, Bellevue
$4 million
Fuel cells have the potential to provide highly reliable, efficient electrical power. This program will develop a hybrid power system comprised of fuel cells and turbines. High temperature fuel cells provide efficiencies of nearly 50-percent when operating on natural gas, and also provide high-grade heat for operating a turbine in a hybrid configuration, resulting very high electrical efficiencies. The system may exhibit up to 70-percent efficiency and thus reduce the cost of producing electrical power. Improving the efficiency of electrical generation systems, which is a high priority for the Department of Defense, will result in lower energy costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions, independence from foreign oil supplies, and significantly less fuel required to generate power in military installations. The project will be managed and performed by the US Army’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory with assistance from the Arctic Energy Technology Department Laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which has expertise in the field of systems integration.
Outbreak Detection Information Network
Paladin Data Systems, Poulsbo
$4 million
The threat of bio-terrorism imposes the need to track changes in key public health data variables and rapidly alert authorities. In 2002, Senator Murray funded the implementation of the Infectious Disease Tracking System—renamed the Outbreak Detection Information Network (ODIN)—in pilot program within the health jurisdictions of Washington state. It is a managed information system that receives civilian and military health indicator data and offers a set of analysis and notification tools to improve interpretation, communication and support of early detection and response. Phase I created a working prototype for syndromic (symptom) surveillance, demonstrating the capability to gather, analyze and respond to health data sources in the Puget Sound area. Phase II is currently expanding ODIN’s geographic scope, improving its predictive capability, increasing the number of data sources, enhancing its capability to notify public health officers and providers. This funding will be used to expand ODIN, develop and validate additional statistical techniques to improve its effectiveness, implement and train additional local health jurisdictions and military commands in its use, and extend the health system’s interconnective networking capabilities in support of the National Health Information Infrastructure and National Biosurveillance Integration System.
Wiring Traceout for Joint Aviation Technical Data Integration
Dimension 4, Bremerton
$4 million
This project will allow Dimension 4 to help the DoD replace hard-copy publications and make current technical data and maintenance expertise readily available to soldiers in the field, by a cheaper and faster means. A web-based, graphically driven, data-centric interface will increase available flight hours – and save money – by supplying critical troubleshooting schematics to maintenance operators and pilots. The project will be demonstrated on the Apache and Black Hawk helicopter maintenance documents into the JATDI system and distributing it to aviation units currently deployed in Iraq.
Development of Long-Shelf Life Fruits and Vegetables for Military Rations
Anawah, Seattle
$3 million
This project will help our troops in the field get fresh tomatoes, lettuce and other produce, especially in areas where soldiers can’t get frequent food deliveries. This funding will allow the company to continue its development of non-genetically modified organism varieties of tomato and lettuce with at least 30 days of fresh shelf-life, and to establish and evaluate variant populations of bell pepper, cantaloupe and strawberry using their advanced molecular biology techniques. This will improve nutrition for soldiers on the frontlines and improved morale of sailors, soldiers and marines deployed on ships, submarines or in field environment where provisioning is infrequent.
Sea Fox Remote Controlled Surface Vessel
Northwind Marine, Seattle
$3 million
The Sea Fox Remote Controlled Surface Vessel was developed under contract with the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center. Two prototypes were built and tested by the U.S. Navy. Proof-of-concept demonstrations with various payload mission packages showed that the vehicle is effective for anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) activities such as area patrol, route survey, vessel interrogation and escort, swimmer detection, underwater survey of piers and docks, bottom surveys, operational test range monitoring and clearance. This request would fund the construction of approximately 10 vehicles, including installation and procurement costs for existing and newly developed equipment for vehicle mission packages, and operational logistics support for on-going AT/FP tests and operations.
Marine Corps Contact Glove
Outdoor Research, Seattle
$3 million
This funding will allow Outdoor Research to manufacture and provide the U.S. Marine Corps with a new cold-weather glove that offers improved tactility, warmth-to-weight ratio, anti-microbial performance, and stretch/elasticity characteristics. Most current clothing and glove systems used by Marine Air/Ground Task Forces employ textiles and designs consistent with 1960’s technology. This technology will offer substantial advancements in mountain and cold weather clothing that will meet the increasing demands on the military. The Marine Corps Contact Glove has been tested by Marines in Afghanistan and has proven to provide a new level of performance in mountain and cold weather environments.
Agile Manufacturing Center for Castings Technology (AMCast) – Keyport Navy Base
Ex One, Bremerton
$2.5 million
Cast metal components are common in legacy systems including the F-16 fighter, the Comanche helicopter, the Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV), and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and will be critical to emerging systems such as the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) and Future Combat System (FCS). They are used in turbine engines, power-trains, valves, manifolds, guidance systems and super- and sub-structures for vehicles, missiles and munitions. Castings are primarily chosen because alternate manufacturing methods are more expensive or require assembled components. It is becoming more and more difficult to obtain castings in the limited quantities and within the delivery times that Department of Defense (DoD) requires, especially for legacy systems, because casting suppliers seek large orders to reduce manufacturing costs. Cast metal components can now be economically manufactured on-demand and in small quantities using Ex One’s Three Dimensional Printing (3DP) Process™ in which cast molds are created directly from computer models using advanced, automated manufacturing technology. This funding would allow the Navy to purchase 3DP equipment and establish of a Rapid Casting Center at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport.
Real-Time Measurement Weight/Balance System for C-130s
Crane Aerospace, Lynnwood
$2.5 million
This project will allow the Air Force to install onboard weights and balance system that can improve aircraft safety, dispatch speed and cost-savings by measuring the actual aircraft weight and center of gravity of an aircraft. Current dispatching procedures “calculate” the aircraft weight based on historical survey data such as average troop weight. Investigators have determined that inaccurate weight assumptions had led to overloaded aircraft and military airplane crashes. This funding will allow Crane Aerospace to complete the development and to qualify the Real-Time Measurement Weight and Balance system for the C-130 fleet.
Inositol-Signaling, Molecule-Based Radioprotectant Drug Development
Inologic, Seattle
$2 million
Conventional treatment for radiation exposure is to administer potassium iodide, a drug that does not always limit the risk of damage to the human body, especially the thyroid gland. A prospective alternative approach to treating or mitigating radiation exposure is to develop therapeutic or prophylactic drugs that reverse or prevent the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation at the cellular level. Such a drug would be comprised of inositol signaling molecules (ISMs), alcohol compounds that stimulate a cell’s ability to repair itself. This project will allow Inologic to identify candidate ISM compounds for use in a new drug that can be administered orally and be used to treat civilian and military victims of radiation exposure.
Navy Region Northwest Remote Sentry
Vigilos, Seattle
$2 million
Because many Navy facilities must be accessible 24 hours a day, at least one entry control point (ECP) at each facility is manned at all times with armed Navy or for-hire guards, regardless of the level of activity. This project will allow the Navy to deploy Vigilos computerized, remote-control physical security management systems that will allow Navy personnel to perform all ECP tasks (e.g. identification checks), principally during periods of off-peak activity. Under this project, the Navy will procure and install security management systems to complete remote operation and coordination of six entry control points at facilities within the Navy Region Northwest.
Floating Area Network
Mobilisa, Port Townsend
$2 million
Currently, the U.S. Navy uses satellite systems to communicate between ships at sea, even if ships are only a few miles apart. This typically includes relaying messages through a network operations center (NOC) and using satellites that are over-tasked, the result being communication links with limited access and limited bandwidth. This project will allow Mobilisa to install secure, wireless communications equipment to connect six ships in a battle group so that they are able to communicate wirelessly, point-to-point (without satellite relay) at high bandwidth speeds of greater than 10Mbps. Advanced networking software is required to allow the Floating Area Network to adapt to the constantly changing topology of the network. Senator Murray previously provided funding to allow the Washington State Ferries to pilot-test this technology. These funds will be used to complete development of the FAN system within a Navy battle group and obtain certification by the Navy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It is expected that this technology will improve the battle group’s communication capabilities over 100-fold.
Madigan Army Medical Trauma Unit
Tacoma Trauma Trust, Tacoma
$2 million
This project will fund Tacoma Trauma Trust (TTT) which is a partnership between Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma General Hospital (MultiCare) and St. Joseph’s Hospital (Franciscans). It provides much needed Level II trauma for South King County, Pierce, Thurston and southwest Washington. This union of civilian and military trauma centers is also an excellent training opportunity for the doctors and surgeons at Madigan who need trauma training prior to their deployment overseas.
Eastern Washington Region
Warfighter Pocket XP Project
Itronix, Spokane
$6.5 million
Current commercially available computers are bulky, too slow, require too much battery power and are often incompatible with various military application requirements. This funding will allow Itronix to “ruggedize” an ultra-small, lightweight, personal “hand-top” computer for the Air Force Research Laboratory. The PC was originally developed by Vulcan Inc. of Seattle.
Small, Tactical-UAVs for Battlefield Intelligence, Communications and Atmospheric Data Collection
Insitu, Bingen
$2.5 million
The ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been successful as a low-cost, small, tactical platform for collecting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery for the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. Senator Murray previously provided funding for the U.S. Marine Corps to purchase ScanEagle UAVs, which have been used to fly very low and close to roads and other threat areas searching for Improvised Explosive Devices. Military commanders now want to expand the role of this class of UAV to include collecting meteorology data, detecting atmospheric agents (chemical or biological), and providing secure communications relay for ground forces. These funds will support commercial and university development of payloads to support these new missions, and then testing these payloads on the UAV by conducting experiments under the auspices of the U.S. Air force UAV Battlelab.
Southwest Washington Region
Unmanned Force Augmentation System (UFAS)
Oregon Iron Works, Vancouver
$5 million
Over the past 5 years, Senator Murray has provided funding to allow the Navy to design, build, and evaluate the SEALION craft and multiple vehicles that can be carried onboard. The SEALION is a medium-range multi-mission craft that has been designed to fully minimize the risk of detection in medium to high threat areas by incorporating low observability features into the design. The SEALION is capable of supporting a variety of missions and can be easily reconfigured to accommodate a variety of payloads, including manned and unmanned surface, subsurface and aerial craft. This funding will allow Oregon Iron Works to develop and test an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle for various missions being considered by the Navy and Air Force.
Chitosan Hemorrhage Control Dressing
HemCon, Inc., Portland
$9 million
The Chitosan dressing has saved lives in Iraq and Afghanistan by effectively treating battlefield injuries. It is the best option for external hemostasis on the battlefield in casualties that are not amenable to the use of a tourniquet. This funding provides $5 million for the purchase of Chitsan dressings for U.S. troops. The Chitosan dressing also dramatically increases survival and reduces blood loss from internal trauma and during surgical repairs of damaged organs such as liver, spleen and large arteries. $4million of this funding will support background research and FDA required testing for a permanent internal dressing for use in internal trauma and surgical bleeding, central nervous system injuries, traumatic fractures, and infection control, and the development of an external dressing to treat severe thermal and chemical burn injuries.
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