WASHINGTON, D.C.   (Oct. 3, 2007) - Senator Benjamin L. Cardin
( D-Md.) today announced the Senate has approved the Department of
Defense 2008 spending bill, which includes $74.5 million for defense
projects in Maryland, including $14 million for defense projects in
Southern Maryland. 

The legislation funds the Department of Defense and
will go toward critical research, development, test and evaluation
programs, as well as weapons and equipment required for the U.S. Armed
Forces.   Senator Cardin is a member of the Budget Committee.


The $14 million for Southern Maryland defense projects includes:

-- $5 million for High Energy Conventional Energetics research at Indian
Head Division Naval Surface Warfare Center in Charles County to target
asymmetrical threats, such as hardened Weapons of Mass Destruction
sites.

-- $5 million to complete the fiber optic data link between Patuxent
River Naval Air Station (Pax River) and Wallops Flight Facility to
support advanced Navy aircraft testing between the Navy and NASA testing
ranges and facilities.

-- $3 million for research on All Weather Sense and Avoid technology for
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to develop radar technology that will
allow UAVs to detect and avoid possible collision.

-- $1 million for the Maryland Technology Development Corporation's
(TEDCO) Naval Aviation Technology Exploration Initiative to share
technologies between Naval Air Systems Command at Pax River and academic
industry partners in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In the next step of the legislative process, the House and Senate will
meet in Conference Committee to work out the differences between the two
versions of the bill.  The Conference report will then be voted on by
both Houses of Congress.  Once passed by the House and Senate, the
spending bill will go to the President for his signature.

"Our greatest obligation as elected officials is to take care of our
troops and their families who have sacrificed on our behalf," said
Senator Cardin.  "This bill sets the right priorities by providing
critical equipment and training, strengthening military health care for
our troops and their families, and giving our military families the pay
raise they deserve."