$12.4 million in federal funding for region will create jobs, benefit U.S. military
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey announced today that Congress has approved federal funding for several defense-related projects in the Lehigh Valley. This funding is contained in the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Act, a bill which provides funding for our men and women in uniform, and also extends unemployment and health insurance benefits for unemployed workers.
“These projects will make valuable contributions to our nation’s defense and economy,” said Senator Specter. “Pennsylvania is a top competitor for defense projects that create jobs and strengthen our economy and these funds will go far in supporting the brave men and women who serve our country.”
“These projects will encourage job creation and bolster our nation’s security,” said Senator Casey. “I am pleased the Congress has approved this important funding, which will promote economic growth in Pennsylvania, ensure that our servicemembers have state-of-the-art equipment and protection and strengthen our nation’s defense.”
The Senate voted to pass the bill Saturday morning 88-10; the President signed it into law the same day.
Funding has been approved for the following defense projects in the Lehigh Valley:
*If a Member of Congress also supported a project, his/her name listed
• $3.2 million for Air Products in Lehigh County to develop stronger and lighter composite armor for military vehicles. (Specter, Dent)
• $3.2 million for the Lehigh Heavy Forge Corporation in Northampton County to enable it to increase its capacity to meet the Navy’s demand for forged components. (Specter, Casey, Dent)
• $2.4 million for Lehigh University to develop photonic integrated circuit technologies required for next generation Navy avionics. (Specter, Casey)
• $1.6 million for Bosch Rexroth Corporation in Lehigh County to develop a suite of simulators capable of screening and evaluating new materials, light weight structures, and high value subsystems and components on both wheeled and tracked vehicles. (Specter, Dent)
• $1.2 million for Lightwire, Inc in Lehigh County for the development of high speed optical interconnects for next-generation supercomputing. (Specter, Dent)
• $800,000 for ProModel Corporation in Lehigh County to expand utilization of the Army Force Generation Synchronization Tool, which enables the capture of AFORGEN process in software, providing decision makers the ability to rapidly create courses of action and predict the impact of their decisions on key metrics, such as dwell-time and boots-on-the-ground. (Specter, Casey, Dent)
###
