Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today reported that a key Senate panel has begun consideration of a bill that would fund important Air Force initiatives in New Mexico, White Sands Missile Range, and a key New Mexico National Guard program that protects the New Mexico border region.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense today approved a fiscal year 2009 bill, allowing the full Senate Appropriations Committee to take up the bill. 

The measure includes many initiatives for which Bingaman sought funding, including $3 million for the New Mexico National Guard so it can continue to fund counter-drug efforts in the border region and enhance border security.  Bingaman has already secured $8.15 million for this program. 

“As a border state, it is important for New Mexico to have the resources and support it needs to combat the flow of illegal drugs from Mexico.  The funding included in this bill will help the New Mexico National Guard continue its successful counterdrug operations initiative,” Bingaman said.

            The bill also contains funding for initiatives at Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile range. 

Holloman Air Force Base would benefit from the following:

• $4 million, Holloman Air Force Base, to continue the development and construction of the prototype magnetic levitation test track to support high speed test operations. 
• $2.907 billion for 20 F-22 aircraft, enough to keep the Air Force on schedule to send 40 Raptors to Holloman Air Force Base by 2011.

            White Sands stands to gain:

• $2 million, White Sands Missile Range, Joint Urban Environment Test Capability 
• $7.8 million, White Sands Missile Range, DoD High Energy Laser Test Facility
• $4 million, White Sands Missile Range, to analyze WSMR road infrastructure and develop an operations and maintenance plan, including funding strategies for the long term sustainment of the range road infrastructure and to repair degraded road sections ensuring safe and capable support of test and training missions.

The bill also contains:  

$3.5 million, University of New Mexico, to support the Long Wave Length Array.   The Long Wavelength Array will be a very large (400 km) synthetic aperture radio astronomy telescope designed as a new instrument in the poorly explored region of the electromagnetic spectrum.  It will research astrophysics, space physics, space weather, and ionospheric physics.

$3 million, UNM, to develop new U.S. space-based and defense digital processing capability based upon reconfigurable circuits. 

$3 million, UNM, University Strategic Partnerships, for research, develop, test and evaluateion programs through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

$7 million, New Mexico Tech, Smart Instrument Development for the Magdalena Ridge Observatory (MRO).  The United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have joined a consortium of research universities, including the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) and Cambridge University, in a unique teaming arrangement to build a state-of-the-art observatory in the Magdalena Mountains near Socorro, New Mexico.

$6 million, NM Tech, Playas Training and Research Center Joint Training Experiment.  Funding will be used to establish the PTRC as a Joint National Training and Experimentation Site for National Guard Bureau (NGB) active and reserve personnel, as well as for Air National Guard and Army National Guard personnel. Playas is envisioned as becoming an integral portion of the Joint National Training Capability.

$3 million to support Tularosa Basin National Inland Research and Testing facility, Alamogordo.

$10 million New Mexico State University Institute for Defense and Public Policy Institute for National Security and Public Policy that will prepare national security professionals to serve as managers and policy leaders in an ever-changing global environment.

$1 million, New Mexico State University, to develop a comprehensive total cost analysis of munitions production taking into account associated environmental and health risks and production and reclamation expenses, and 2) evaluate environmental impact associated with testing and deploying ammunition containing heavy metals.

$4 million, Applied Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, High Energy Conventional Energetics

$500,000 TruTouch, Albuquerque, to develop a portable autonomous fluid-less near-infrared non-invasive alcohol testing devices.

$2 million, Goodrich Corp. Space Flight Systems, Albuquerque, to develop new technology to distribute power to Air Force space craft.