[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1646-S1647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 82--CONGRATULATING THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
 APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF 
                             THE LABORATORY

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted 
the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                               S. Res. 82

       Whereas, on March 10, 2017, the Johns Hopkins University 
     Applied Physics Laboratory (in this preamble referred to as 
     ``APL''), located in Laurel, Maryland, celebrates the 75th 
     anniversary of the founding of APL on March 10, 1942;
       Whereas, less than 4 months after the attack on the United 
     States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, APL was established to 
     perfect and help field the radio proximity fuze, one of the 
     most closely guarded wartime secrets of the United States;
       Whereas historians have ranked the development of the radio 
     proximity fuze as one of the 3 most important technological 
     developments of World War II, along with the development of 
     radar and the atomic bomb;
       Whereas, during and after World War II, APL developed the 
     first generation of Navy surface-to-air missiles and 
     associated propulsion, guidance, control, and targeting 
     technologies;
       Whereas APL developed the initial ``phased array'' radar 
     system, called AMFAR, for the Navy that provided the 
     scanning, tracking, and targeting necessary to defend the 
     ships of the United States against simultaneous aircraft and 
     missile raids;
       Whereas APL created the first satellite-based global 
     navigation system, called Transit, the forerunner of modern 
     GPS, to serve the ballistic missile submarine force of the 
     United States and provide essential capabilities to the Navy 
     from 1964 until the 1990s;
       Whereas APL developed prototypes, experiments, ocean 
     physics research, and engineering models that unlocked the 
     potential of towed sonar arrays, groundbreaking developments 
     that revolutionized anti-submarine

[[Page S1647]]

     warfare and guided stealth designs for multiple generations 
     of submarines of the United States;
       Whereas APL led development of the Navy's Cooperative 
     Engagement Capability that revolutionized air defenses by 
     enabling ships to engage aircraft and missiles not seen by 
     the radars of the ships by using composite radar tracks 
     created from the radars of ships within the battle group;
       Whereas APL developed a system called SATRACK to ensure the 
     accuracy of the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic 
     missiles and confidently estimate missile accuracy anywhere 
     in the world;
       Whereas APL proposed, developed, built, and operated a 
     number of the most innovative low-cost planetary science 
     missions of the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration, including--
       (1) the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (commonly known as 
     ``NEAR'') mission in 2001, the first mission to orbit an 
     asteroid;
       (2) the MESSENGER Mercury orbiter, launched in 2004; and
       (3) New Horizons, which launched in 2006 and completed a 
     historic flyby of Pluto in 2015;
       Whereas APL has been responsible for hundreds of 
     significant contributions to the most critical challenges 
     faced by the United States with respect to national security 
     and space exploration; and
       Whereas the sustained commitment by APL to the United 
     States and the Federal Government sponsors of APL allowed 
     APL--
       (1) to continuously provide significant contributions to 
     critical challenges with respect to systems engineering and 
     integration, technology research and development, and 
     analysis; and
       (2) to serve as the most comprehensive University 
     Affiliated Research Center in the United States: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) congratulates the Johns Hopkins University Applied 
     Physics Laboratory on the 75th anniversary of the founding of 
     the Laboratory;
       (2) recognizes the scientific, engineering, and analytical 
     expertise that the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics 
     Laboratory has applied to solve many of the most critical 
     challenges faced by the United States in the areas of 
     national security and space exploration; and
       (3) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate 
     transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the director 
     of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

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