Posted at 11:36 a.m., Tuesday, December 11, 2001

Hawai'i defense spending may top $848 million

Associated Press

Defense spending in Hawa'ii next year could top $848 million if Congress approves measures now being considered, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said last week.

On top of $382.8 million approved earlier this year, the Defense Appropriations Bill now before the Senate would add another $465.2 million for Hawaii projects, Inouye said. Most of them involve cutting-edge defense technology.

Inouye is chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee which drafted the package that has been approved by the Senate's Committee on Appropriations.

Funding for military projects on the Neighbor Islands has increased substantially in the latest measure, including $114 million at the Pacific Missile Range on Kaua'i, $85 million for activities on Maui and $75 million to continue the ordnance clean up on Kaho'olawe.

Among the Kaua'i projects are $4 million to develop ocean buoys that can capture the power of waves to generate electricity at PMRF and $6 million to continue Kaua'i-based research and manufacturing of hard, corrosion-resistant optical coatings for mirrors with space missile defense and commercial applications.

Maui projects include $20.5 million for the Maui Space Surveillance System, $10.5 million to support operations and upgrades at the Maui High Performance Computing Center and $6 million for the Pacific Disaster Center, a federal information processing facility that supports emergency management activities in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions such as the Afghanistan refugee relocation operation.