2005
Federal Agenda Chamber of Commerce, Huntsville/Madison County Alabama
Chamber Agenda As we celebrate Huntsville’s bicentennial this year, we are especially mindful of our Congressional Delegation’s role in growing and protecting our community. With the help of our Congressmen, both past and present, our region has become a world leader in engineering, research and development. We hope to build on that reputation by overcoming new challenges facing our nation in space exploration and the development of new military systems. Many of the federal programs that will help our nation remain the leader of the free world are today based in Huntsville. Among the many programs that are well suited to our capabilities, Redstone is an ideal location for integration work on the Future Combat System (FCS) which is perhaps the Army’s most technically-challenging system currently in development. This is a critical year for our community with the military making plans to reduce property holdings and base infrastructure by as much as 25 percent through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. We encourage our delegation to remain vigilant in their defense of Redstone. The military value and synergy of the more than 60 resident federal activities make Redstone a logical choice for the consolidation of additional federal programs. One realignment that should occur either within BRAC or otherwise, is the reorganization of the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s research, development and engineering functions to the appropriate materiel subordinate commands and program executive offices. In this agenda, the Chamber outlines some of the most pressing issues facing our nation today. We again rely upon our Congressional delegation to help us realize this next chapter in our nation’s and our community’s growth.
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Missile Defense Program President Ronald Reagan’s vision of a missile system to defend our country from ballistic missile attack began to take shape this past fall with the installation of six ground-based interceptors (GBIs) at Ft. Greely, Alaska. This vision is becoming a reality because of the dedication and commitment of President George W. Bush, the steadfast support of the Alabama Congressional delegation, and the professionalism and expertise of industry and government workers in the Huntsville, Alabama area. The Chamber expresses its gratitude to President Bush and the Alabama Congressional delegation for their efforts to protect this country from missile attack. The first step toward protecting our homeland from the threat of ballistic missile attack has been made. Now, more than ever, the technological advances by rogue nations make this threat a reality. The Chamber respectfully suggests three mission-critical aspects for consideration: 1. Maintaining adequate GMD funding in the face of defense budget cuts 2. Expanding GMD capabilities, especially more interceptors, both here in the U.S. and abroad 3. Enhancing GMD capabilities The Chamber endorses full and long term funding for GMD, especially in FY2006, to sustain the system’s capability to defend against ballistic missile threats or attacks. Without adequate funding of GMD, our country will be vulnerable to attack. The GMD system must be expanded beyond the initial deployment to ensure that the United States and its allies are fully protected. The press reported last year that Pentagon war game exercises indicated a small inventory of interceptors that could quickly be depleted by an attack would be a dangerous weakness of any system. Continued production and installation of GBIs at Ft. Greely is essential to an effective GMD system. In addition, the Bush Administration’s plan to construct a third GMD site overseas with GBIs must be pursued vigorously this year. A third GMD site provides a strong deterrent to threats against both the U.S. and its allies. Our leaders must continue to aggressively pursue total deployment of the GMD system.
Missile Defense Technology Today, the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) has no funding for
applied research (6.2) and the advanced technology development (6.3) funding represents only 2 percent of the overall MDA budget. The vast majority of funds are dedicated to acquiring and fielding near term systems. The past director of MDA stated in testimony before Congress: “…At current funding levels, we are able to fund far fewer programs for next-generation weapon systems. Since most of our financial resources are focused on development, production and deployment of our family of systems, we need to invest in technology development if we are to keep pace with the emerging threat…” The lack of adequate funding for applied research by both MDA and the U.S. Army leaves a gap in critical technology development for the U.S. Army Air, Space and Missile Defense PEO. The lack of funding is manifesting itself in three important ways. First, the technologies needed to conduct “Capability Based” and “Spiral Development” to address advanced threats, increase performance against current threats, and enhance reliability cannot be vigorously pursued. Second, the best and brightest minds coming into the workplace are going elsewhere because applied research for ballistic missile defense (BMD) is nonexistent. Finally, since the early 1990s universities and small businesses have downsized or eliminated their applied research programs commensurate with the reduction in applied research funding. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) in Huntsville and its predecessor organizations have been in the forefront of BMD technology development since the first feasibility studies of a defense against strategic ballistic missiles in 1955. USASMDC, established as the nation’s premier BMD research facility, invented and validated the critical technologies used to build the first non-nuclear BMD system currently under deployment. USASMDC is the only cost effective choice to re-establish a world-class BMD research facility to manage, direct, and coordinate in-house research with MDA and the services, as well as research conducted in colleges and universities. The Chamber supports U.S. Army funding consistent with establishing a credible program to address applied research in areas such as multi-spectral image change detection; guidance, navigation, and control for hypersonic vehicles; early launch detection sensors; next generation micro-electronics; and next generation materials unique to missile defense. These funds are critical for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center to conduct comprehensive applied research programs that keep pace with the advancing threat and maintain the nation’s technological superiority.
Unmanned Systems Initiative Unmanned systems have emerged as key elements for the transformation of the U.S. Army. Redstone Arsenal is uniquely positioned to lead the definition of unmanned systems common architectures and standards, and the system of systems engineering and integration required to accelerate the transition of unmanned systems in a joint environment, as well as meet near term development challenges. The Unmanned Systems Initiative will optimize the resources within the Southeast, especially those concentrated at Redstone Arsenal and Fort Rucker, to define and demonstrate interoperability and teaming between manned and unmanned systems, as well as unmanned to unmanned combinations, both ground and air. Another principal focus is the integration of weapons systems into existing and future unmanned systems platforms. An emphasis on joint collaboration will leverage synergies of resident U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and regional joint service research and development, test, and experimentation capability to advance, evaluate, and rapidly mature technologies to meet urgent war fighter needs. The FY05 focus is addressing priority unmanned system interoperability and weaponization needs. The proposed FY06 activities will build upon those efforts and explore unmanned systems in support of homeland defense and force protection for our troops. This initiative will leverage and focus the talents/assets of government, academia and industry to provide services to our joint forces, homeland security and defense organizations, civil emergency management and first responder agencies.
Vision for Space Exploration The Marshall Space Flight Center and its community partners are completing a year of successful support of the nation’s new “Vision for Space Exploration.” The Marshall team continues to play a critical role in the Space Shuttle’s return to flight and ongoing payload operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Additionally, Marshall has played a key role in the establishment of the Exploration Systems activity within NASA. This year will see the Shuttle returned to full operation to complete the ISS, ensuring its full potential as an unprecedented research facility. Now, it is time to take the next important step to ensure the long term success of the President’s new policy. For over 40 years the Marshall Center has demonstrated expertise in end-to-end systems engineering and integration. This experience base has created a set of institutional capabilities critical to the success of future space exploration. These capabilities have been created and sustained through development and management of a variety of systems, including launch vehicles, propulsion systems, scientific spacecraft and research instruments. The broader Huntsville government, and industrial and academic communities also have a great deal of experience in systems engineering and integration that should be applied in support of the Vision for Space Exploration. The Department of Defense and industry have recently consolidated substantial program management activities to capitalize on the area’s unique confluence of systems engineering and integration capabilities. Most recently, this capability has been used in the development and deployment of the nation’s first missile defense shield, with more than half of the workforce on this system based locally, including both The Boeing Company’s Integrated Product Team and the Missile Defense Agency’s program management office based on Redstone Arsenal. Additionally, the U.S. Army’s capabilities on Redstone are particularly germane to the challenges of space exploration. The Chamber commends NASA and the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate for using the Marshall Center’s expertise, but believes now is the time to designate Marshall as the system of systems integrator for Project Constellation. As a full partner with NASA, the Huntsville/Madison County community stands ready to assist the agency and the nation in reaching the nation’s space goals.
Redstone Military Construction Projects Software Engineering Directorate Annex Redstone and its research, development and engineering activities have been at the heart of Huntsville’s growth for more than 50 years. Through partnership with the U.S. Army, our community has become one of the top technology towns in the United States. We are home to the second largest research park in the country and have one of the highest per capita populations of engineers in the country. Huntsville ranks fifth in the nation for concentration of computer software related workers. The Software Engineering Directorate is a renowned center of national excellence in the field of software development and design, and one of a handful of software engineering operations to achieve recognition as a CMM level IV software engineering center. Existing facilities to support the Software Engineering Directorate are beyond capac-
ity and urgently require additional space. The Chamber requests that military construction funding be provided to meet this important need.
Military Systems Test and Integration Hub – Aerospace Corridor of Excellence The 170,000 square foot Military Systems Test and Integration Hub will strengthen the partnership of Redstone Technical Test Center (RTTC) and the Aviation Technical Test Center (ATTC) at Fort Rucker, resulting in accelerated development and qualification of key aviation systems, especially crew protection and mission enhancement systems, as well as improved field testing of missile seeker and sensor technology, and support to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles program. The hub will provide the infrastructure needed to bring together stakeholders and problem solvers from government, industry and academia. In addition to representatives of the two test centers, the hub will provide space for staff from the Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center, AMRDEC’s Prototype Integration Directorate, the Program Executive Office Aviation (PEO), and Aviation Engineering Directorate to form integrated test and development teams. The hub will also house the Distributed Test Control Center that will provide verification data via the simulation network to the Software Engineering Directorate (SED), the Aviation Battle Lab at Fort Rucker and the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) at Fort Eustis, as well as other participants in the distributed test and simulation network in support of the Army’s SMART and VPG objectives. The synergy among development plans at SED, ATTC, the Battle Lab, AATD and the hub will result in value multiplication for each investment. The hub will be critical to providing the best capabilities to the war fighter and will be a key element in growing the aviation business in the aerospace corridor of excellence. The delegation is urged to resist any efforts to delay Project Number 58368 and keep the construction as currently presented in the Future Years Defense Plan as a FY08 project.
Infrastructure The Chamber encourages our Congressional delegation to focus on the following important infrastructure development projects during the FY`06 funding cycle. • The Southern Bypass will provide critical access to Redstone Arsenal, as well as much needed relief to the overly burdened Memorial Parkway. As a critical first element of the Memphis-Huntsville-Atlanta Highway, this project is positioned for immediate development. Preliminary engineering and environmental studies have been conducted and a final route has been designated by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT). Federal funds for design finalization and right of way acquisition is requested. Now that the environmental impact statement for the Memphis through Huntsville to Atlanta Highway has been approved, it is extremely important this nationally significant highway be given top priority in the re-authorization of the Transporation Efficiency Act of 2001 • The Chamber requests additional funding for improvements along Appalachian Corridor V – US 72 East from Gurley to Huntsville – to upgrade that segment of the corridor to a limited access expressway. This includes interchanges at Jordan Road, Moontown Road, Brock Road, the Eastern Bypass and Gurley Pike. Previous federal legislation substantiated the need for these improvements. Appalachian Regional System funding should be applied to the project. • Taxiway L - Huntsville International Airport is served with only one cross taxiway (taxiway “J”) that connects the parallel runways. The cross taxiway does not allow for the maximum utilization of the existing concourse or the planned expansion of the concourse since a Group V (such as Boeing 747) or VI (such as Airbus A380) aircraft cannot taxi on taxiway “J” while an aircraft larger than a commuter is parked at the end of the concourse. With the recent extension of the west runway, larger international cargo aircraft can be accommodated, thus increasing the traffic from the west runway to the International Air Cargo Center on the east side of the airport. This new taxiway will be approximately 3,800 feet in length and meet all design requirements for Group VI aircraft. In addition to allowing for the future expansion of the airport concourse, it will open up access to the proposed midfield development. The estimated cost for this project is $9 million. Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street • Huntsville, AL 35801 • 256.535.2000 www.HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com
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