Monday, Jun. 29, 2009

Defense earmarks could help state

Businesses, USC would get research and development funds

Inside the $533 billion Defense Department appropriation bill wending its way through Congress is $200 million earmarked for projects and businesses in South Carolina.

While about half of the spending is targeted for construction and weapons projects, the rest is going to research and development work that could make a difference in saving troops’ lives.

In addition, money for the R&D projects would help boost the state’s fledging defense industry and bolster the standing of S.C. military bases with the Pentagon and Congress, supporters say.

“Anytime we can get defense work done in South Carolina, it clearly has a positive impact on our economy,” said George Patrick, executive coordinator of the S.C. Military Base Task Force. The panel was formed by the state to assist communities in supporting their local bases.

Military spending in South Carolina totals about $6 billion a year, including pensions and benefits for retirees, according to Pentagon figures.

Yet, major defense contractors such as Boeing and General Dynamics don’t have factories in the Palmetto State.

Focusing efforts on smaller companies, though, could pay off.

“Quite frankly a myriad of smaller defense contractors do business with the big boys,” said Patrick, a retired S.C. Air National Guard major general and F-16 fighter pilot.

Many of the earmarks sponsored by S.C. congressmen are aimed at the development of cutting-edge technology designed to protect troops and benefit civilians. Some examples:

• $3.3 million to AGY Holding Corp., an Aiken company developing high-strength glass fiber used for lightweight armor plating on Humvees and other troop transport vehicles.

• $4 million to the University of South Carolina and the S.C. National Guard for research in helicopter maintenance.

• $3 million to Lifeblood Medical in Columbia to better preserve organs and tissues, possibly sparing wounded troops from having limbs amputated.

By earmarking appropriations, congressmen can guarantee where the money will be spent.

Even critics of earmarking, including Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who complained last year that the process needed reform, backed $117 million in earmarks in the proposed 2010 defense budget.

Earmarked programs have to show they can save the taxpayer money and benefit the military, said Wilson spokesman Ryan Murphy.

“The congressman won’t ask for a project he doesn’t believe in,” Murphy said.

Wilson’s budget requests included the $3.3 million for the armor program that AGY Holding is doing for the Army.

The money will pay for research and development of prototypes fashioned from the next generation of high-strength glass fibers, said Sudhir Hublikar, vice president of science of technology.

“This (money) will just get us started with the people, equipment and initial research and development,” said Hublikar, whose company employs about 600 people.

The Army is looking into the development of glass-fiber armor because it weighs 40 percent to 50 percent less than steel plates presently used, said Scott Northrup, new business development director at AGY.

Lighter armor means less strain on the vehicle’s drivetrain and suspension — a money-saver for the Army. Also, less vehicle weight allows troops to pack more gear, weapons and ammunition.

Glass fiber products include helicopter blades, composite armor for naval vessels and cockpit door armor in commercial aircraft.

The advantage of receiving earmarked funds, Hublikar said, is that the money will cut the time needed to develop the product to 2 to 3 years from 5 to 7 years.

“They’re in the hurry,” Hublikar said of the Army. “They want it done now.”

At USC’s Columbia campus, a $4 million earmark funds studies by engineering students and staffers on components of Army helicopter drive shafts and rotors.

The research project, called Vibration Management Enhancement Program, is designed to predict when a part will fail and have it replaced, said Brig. Gen. Les Eisner, S.C. National Guard deputy adjutant general.

Taxpayers save because the parts aren’t arbitrarily replaced after a certain number of hours of operation regardless of condition, Eisner said.

The program, added professor Abdel-Moez E. Bayoumi, chief of the research team, involves about a dozen members of the faculty and staff, plus students.

Meanwhile, Lifeblood, a cell culture and biotech company, is developing a program called Human Organ and Tissue Preservation Technology. It’s aimed at developing a solution that can better preserve human organs and tissue.

Money from the Defense Department, CEO Joseph Fischer said in a news release, will accelerate development of the product. The solution also could revolutionize “the transplant industry and having no organ go unused,” he added.

Developing high-tech defense businesses like AGY and Lifeblood, along with university research programs, could solidify the future of the state’s military bases, Patrick said.

South Carolina, he noted, already has a built-in labor pool for the industry because of the thousands of military veterans and retirees who’ve settled in the state.

And, it’s possible the companies would locate near the bases in Columbia, Sumter, Charleston and Beaufort, Patrick added. Defense company employees would be “built-in lobbyists to not have that base closed,” Patrick said.

Growing the state’s defense industry could stop encroachment of housing developments and commercial shopping near bases, Patrick said.

“I don’t want a high-density neighborhood in the approach for Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort,” Patrick said. “But a defense-type business would be a perfect neighbor.”

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.

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