Military spending in
Hawaii on the riseA House and Senate panel agreement
would raise the total spent in fiscal
’05 to $856M
Hawaii is in line to get nearly a half-billion dollars in military spending for the next federal fiscal year, with millions going to telescopes on Maui and upgrades to the missile range facility on Kauai.
House and Senate conferees approved a bill yesterday that earmarks nearly $496.7 million for military spending in Hawaii, announced Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), a senior Senate conferee.
When added to money already appropriated for military construction in the islands, Hawaii would have more than $865 million in defense spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. That is beyond payroll or day-to-day operations, Inouye said.
"The importance of Hawaii in our nation's defense is illustrated by the level of funding the state receives," said Inouye.
"It serves as an important base for all of our service branches, and it is where cutting-edge, high-tech research is under way to more quickly detect the enemy, improve combat efficiency and better treat combat-related injuries," he said.
Among the larger appropriations in the defense spending bill -- which still needs approvals from the House and Senate and then President Bush -- are $34.5 million for the Army's control, communications, computer and intelligence system and for continuation of a demonstration project on the Big Island to test communications among federal, state and county agencies to combat terrorism.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, would receive almost $27 million under Congress's military budget plan. Here, a Standard Missile-3, designed to intercept short- to medium-range ballistic missile threats, is launched from the Pearl Harbor-based Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie. It intercepted another missile 3 1/2 minutes after the target missile was launched from the facility.
A $33.9 million appropriation would go to the Maui Space Surveillance System, which houses the Pentagon's largest telescope, the 3.67-meter Advanced Electro Optical System, and other telescopes.
The Maui High Performance Computing Center, one of the world's largest supercomputer installations, is to received $15.5 million for technology upgrades.
The bill also includes nearly $27 million for upgrades and equipment at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.
The fiscal 2005 spending for Hawaii exceeds that for this fiscal year, which included money to convert the Army's 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks into a fast-moving Stryker Brigade.
Much of the funding under consideration now for military construction in the islands would be for projects providing support and training for Stryker brigade and related C-17 transport aircraft.
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Military spending has
statewide impactA glance at some of the appropriations for Hawaii military projects contained in the 2005 defense spending bill approved by House and Senate conferees:
OAHU
» $23 million for the telemedicine technology program at Tripler Army Medical Center.» $8.5 million to establish a collaborative clinical alliance between Tripler Army Medical Center and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii.
» $8.5 million for a Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific on Ford Island.
MAUI
» $10 million for PanSTARRS, to develop large-aperture telescopes with different sensors.» $8.5 million for the High Accuracy Network Determination System, which uses relatively low-cost, innovative telescopes to determine orbital information of satellites.
» $8.5 million for a Pacific-based Joint Information Technology Center, which would be used to create and manage databases.
» $7 million for the Pacific Disaster Center, which supports emergency management activities in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean regions.
KAUAI
» $11.6 million for advanced integrated radar electronics and photonics at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.» $8 million for a force protection laboratory at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, which would serve as an incubator for force protection and base security technologies.
» $6.4 million for the digitization of technical and operational manuals, to be shared among American Indian and native Hawaiian corporations. The first digitizing center is in Anahola on Kauai, and the second will open in Waimanalo on Oahu.
» $5.1 million for programs at the Pacific Missile Range Facility that monitor and display data collected during tests and exercises at the range.
SOURCE: U.S. SEN. DANIEL INOUYE (D-HAWAII)
