WASHINGTON, DC - By a vote of 93-7, the U.S. Senate last night approved legislation providing over $80.5 million in defense funding for Rhode Island that U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) requested as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2010.

Rhode Island's defense industry employs about 16,000 people throughout the state and contributes nearly $2 billion annually to the local economy.

"This defense appropriations bill provides our troops with the support, resources, and equipment they need to address our most pressing national security threats," said Reed, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. "This legislation will help create high-paying manufacturing and technology jobs in Rhode Island, and ensure our defense industry remains strong and vibrant. The funding provided in this package is an acknowledgement of the valuable contribution Rhode Island companies and workers make towards safeguarding our nation."

Overall, the defense appropriations bill provides full funding for the continuation of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class Destroyer Program and the procurement of the Virginia Class Submarine.

The Senate bill must now be reconciled in Conference Committee with the version passed by the U.S. House of Representative. After the conference completes its work, the final version of the bill must be approved by both the Senate and the House before going to President Obama's desk to be signed into law.

The 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill includes the following projects for Rhode Island:

$9 Million
Rhode Island Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) Program
Providence, RI

This bill includes $9 million for the Department of Defense's national Procurement Technical Assistance Program, which will help Rhode Island's small businesses with technical assistance to market their products and services to the federal government.

$6 Million
Common Command and Control System Module
General Dynamics Electric Boat, Quonset Point, RI and Groton, CT

This bill contains $6 million for Electric Boat for the Common Command and Control System Module, which will allow for a number of infrastructure improvements, while also reducing total costs by utilizing an integrated Life Cycle Management Plan that can be used across multiple ship classes.

$5.5 Million
Future Dry Dock Shelter
General Dynamics Electric Boat, Quonset Point, RI and Groton, CT

This bill contains $5.5 million for Electric Boat for the Future Dry Dock Shelter, which will replace aging Dry Dock Shelters with a number of technological improvements, including payload stowage, launch and recovery, and hyperbolic chamber capability if required to recompress divers.

$5 Million
Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative
Providence, RI

This bill contains $5 million that directly supports the Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Service (RIMES), Rhode Island's affiliate for the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), as well as the other MEP Centers in the six New England States. These Centers assist New England's small manufacturers in competition for contract awards of machined parts utilizing a newly-developed production system that significantly minimizes the lead times from design to finished product and will provide DOD rapid response capability to surge demand of needed parts.

$5 Million
Metals Affordability Initiative
Lincoln, RI

This bill includes $5 million for the Metals Affordability Initiative, which is a consortium of companies with offices in Rhode Island, that produce important technology for aircraft and propulsion systems. This funding will help this program strengthen the metals industrial base by improving current metals processing and developing new techniques for production, part manufacturing, and weapon systems support.

$5 Million
Special Operations Forces Modular Glove System
Duro Textiles, Fall River, MA

This bill contains $5 million to support the procurement of additional Modular Glove Systems for Special Operations Forces. This system consists of five interchangeable gloves that protect against heat and flame threats, as well as temperature discomfort in extreme cold weather. Duro Textiles employs Rhode Islanders.

$4 Million
TB-33 Thinline Towed Array Production
L-3 Chesapeake Sciences Corporation, Ashway, RI

This bill contains $4 million to complete testing and begin implementation of a system that provides the detection range and area search rate required to identify hostile submarines in battle spaces.

$4 Million
Artificial Intelligence-Based Combat System Kernel
Rite Solutions, Middletown, RI

This bill contains $4 million for Rite Solutions to continue the development of automation technology that will optimize personnel manning while also increasing command decision and combat system performance in the Virginia Class and Ohio Class replacement submarines.

$4 Million
Navy Automatic Identification Technology (AIT) Modernization Initiative
Zebra Technologies, Warwick RI

This bill includes $4 million to modernize the Navy's supply and logistics structure with up-to-date AIT technology to allow the Naval Supply Systems Command to improve its logistics tracking system to meet crucial ordnance, afloat, and ashore needs.

$3 Million
Marine Personnel Carrier Support System
Group 81, Newport, RI

This bill contains $3 million for the design and development of a system not only focused on technical performance, but also capable of managing weapon-system supportability information, allowing for data sharing during manufacturing, and maintenance support in the field.

$3 Million
Weapon Acquisition and Firing System
MIKEL, Middletown, RI

This bill contains $3 million for MIKEL to begin the research and development of a data fusion capability that automatically develops an accurate sensor-based target solution.

$3 Million
Submarine Environment for Evaluation and Development
Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow, Middletown, RI

This bill contains $3 million to expand the current futuristic submarine attack center located at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) to a full Submarine Environment for Evaluation and Development (SEED), which will provide a low-cost, easily accessible test bed for new submarine technologies.

$3 Million
Organic Submarine Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Target Demonstration
Sea Corp, Middletown, RI

This bill contains $3 million to continue the encapsulated UAV program by allowing for a full scale submerged capsule deployment, including a demonstration of this prototype on a tactical submarine.

$3 Million
Flexible Aerogel Materials Supplier Initiative
Aspen Aerogels, East Providence, RI and Northborough, MA

This bill contains $3 million for further production of aerogel, an affordable, flexible, high temperature, lightweight material in high demand by the military market.

$3 Million
Rugged Electronic Textile Vital Signs Monitoring
Northeast Knitting, Pawtucket, RI

This bill contains $3 million for researching and developing a Warfighter Physiologic Status Monitoring (WPSM) system for clothing worn by military personnel, which would interpret a soldier's vital signs to detect such conditions as heat exhaustion or hemorrhagic shock, signal when a soldier had been injured, and also provide remote triage and casualty information to combat field medics and commanders.

$2 Million
Improved Submarine Towed Array Systems
BAE Systems, Middletown, RI

This bill contains $2 million for expansion and further development of the new towed array system, which uses a pull assist system that reduces array damage, and allows for other improvements.

$2 Million
Wave Energy Harvesting for Buoy Applications
Electro Standard Laboratories, Cranston RI

This bill contains $2 million for developing and demonstrating a new type of buoy technology capable of harnessing electrical power from the motion of the ocean waves, ultimately making buoys more effective.

$2 Million
All Composite Lightweight Military Vehicle
TPI Composites, Warren, RI

This bill contains $2 million to optimize the development of smaller, lightweight composite HMMWV-like vehicles, and produce additional prototypes that can be road tested and prepared for possible production.

$2 Million
3D Woven Preform Technology for Army Munitions Applications
Textile Engineering & Manufacturing, Woonsocket, RI

This bill contains $2 million for Textile Engineering & Manufacturing to test and evaluate technology capable of providing enhanced ballistic performance that reduce weight and are cost-effective.

$2 Million
Harbor Shield
Battelle, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, RI

This bill contains $2 million for Battelle to conduct work at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center to provide for further development of the Harbor Shield system, which uses powerful imaging technology to map the underwater hulls of ships as they enter harbors, scanning their bellies to detect weapons of mass destruction, mines, bundles of illegal drugs, and any other irregularities.

Lastly, the legislation also includes $5 million for a national grant program that funds schools in Newport, Portsmouth, and Middletown to provide additional funding to help offset costs of schooling children with disabilities.