The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Appropriations conference report Tuesday that contains over $8 million in funding important to Patuxent River Naval Air Station and Southern Maryland at the request of Congressman Hoyer.

“Once again, the House has recognized the importance of programs at Pax River, as well as those under development by the many skilled defense contractors in Southern Maryland,” Hoyer said.  “Pax River is home to some of our nation’s finest scientists and engineers and it is testament to their hard work that millions of dollars were included in this bill for the many programs at Pax.”

“These programs are not only important to our state’s economy but will further enhance the technical testing capabilities at Pax and keep it at the forefront of defense systems research, development, acquisition and testing,” Hoyer added. “As we fight the global war on terror, Pax River continues to play a vital role in our national security and these funds reflect that contribution.”

Funding requested by Congressman Hoyer that will benefit Pax River and Southern Maryland companies included in the FY07 Department of Defense Appropriations conference report passed is listed below.

– Upgrading Range Instrumentation to Support Network Centric Operations, $2.6 million

Pax River is the world’s busiest test flight center in the world, providing a full spectrum of RDT&E through its research and engineering expertise, fully instrumented and integrated open-air ranges, and powerful modeling and simulation facilities, making it a significant contributor to the transformation process. This funding will upgrade current NAWCAD, Patuxent River instrumentation resources and capabilities to provide new and/or enhanced integrated test, training and experimentation to support the Navy’s transformation to a network-centric force. This enhanced range capability will support the complex scenarios involved in a network centric or cooperative engagement. Just as DoD is transforming its war fighting capability, this allows Pax to upgrade supporting test and evaluation capabilities to keep pace with upgraded net-centric operational capabilities.

– Network Expansion & Integration of Navy/NASA RDT&E Ranges & Facilities, $2 million

This funding provides a much needed communications link upgrade between Pax River and NASA’s Wallops Island facility on the lower Eastern Shore.  This enhancement expands the Pax range capabilities out over the Atlantic Ocean by allowing tests to be tracked from Wallops to be tied directly to the labs and capabilities of Pax River.

The Atlantic Test Range (ATR) requires an effective communications infrastructure to successfully and safely accomplish its mission. The Digital Microwave Data Link System (DMDLS), which is the core system supporting NAWCAD testing of the Navy’s best and newest aircraft systems, is now operating at near capacity. With an increase of offshore Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) work expected and the development of hypersonic air vehicles and weapons, escalating requirements for instrumentation data (video, voice, and data) feeds will be unsupportable on the current DMDLS. This project will upgrade the capabilities of the Atlantic Test Range (ATR) through installation of a Fiber Optic Data Link system that will support existing and emergent range requirements as more capable digital range and aircraft systems continue to expand the need for high capacity data links.

– AGE Exploration Model Extensi