[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 10975-10976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2008

  Mr. MICA. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5658, which 
provides funds for the Sonobuoy Flight Vehicle. I am requesting funding 
in the FY09 Defense Authorization bill, Navy RDT&E account for the 
Sonobuoy Flight Vehicle, manufactured by Sparton Electronics, located 
at 5612 Johnson Lake Road in DeLeon Springs, Florida 32130.
  The deteriorating condition of the aging P-3 Orion fleet and the 
recent termination of the S-3 Viking program have resulted in fewer 
manned airborne ASW platforms available to the Navy's surface forces. 
While full operational capability of the new P-8 Poseidon is not 
expected until 2017-2020 or beyond, Navy surface combatants are in 
urgent need of a low cost, organic system to rapidly deploy acoustic 
sensors at a distance from the force. SFV capability will be critical 
where there is a deficiency in organic airborne ASW assets, or in the 
littoral in situations where a hostile coastline poses a threat to 
manned ASW aircraft.
  This is the first year funding will be needed to begin the research 
and development phase

[[Page 10976]]

of this project. There will be no cost share, as this project is being 
developed for the Navy. Requested government funding of $2.6M for the 
Sonobuoy Flight Kit will achieve the following: 1. Detailed design of 
SFV and system components. 2. Land-based flight trials verifying 
overall system performance, including range, speed, and endurance of 
the SFV. 3. Complete a production tooled design capable of supporting 
LRIP testing. 4. Design and fabricate a compact ship-based launch 
mechanism for use on LCS or other surface combatants.

                          ____________________