$9 BILLION FOR SOUTHLAND SPENDING OK'D ON A.V. DEFENSE PROJECTS.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Congress gave final approval Thursday to a defense spending bill containing more than $9 billion for Southern California military projects.

The $368 billion 2004 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill provides funding for fighter jets and unmanned aircraft, on which work is done in the Antelope Valley, as well as a counterterrorism program at Point Mugu and rocket engine testing in San Bernardino.

As expected, Congress also gave the green light for a 4.1 percent military pay raise, reduced the out-of-pocket housing expenses for military personnel from 7.5 percent to 3.5 percent, and set aside $128 million for hazardous-duty pay.

``As our brave men and women battle terrorism around the world, I am proud that Congress has stepped up to our responsibility to provide them with the most advanced war-fighting capability on the planet,'' Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's panel on defense spending, said in a statement.

The perchlorate issue that has plagued Southern California groundwater makes a cameo appearance in the legislation. Language inserted by Lewis and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., orders the Pentagon to study perchlorate contamination in Southwest irrigation supplies and make recommendations on fixing the problem to Congress.

The Senate passed the bill 95-0 on Thursday. The House passed it Wednesday, 407-15.

Every Southern California lawmaker except Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, and Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Long Beach, voted in favor of it. Waters voted against it and Millender-McDonald did not cast a vote.

President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law before Oct. 1.

Among the local projects include:

--$4.3 billion to develop the F-35, fuselage sections of which will be assembled by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale. The joint strike fighter is intended to be a multiservice fighter that will replace the F-16 and the F/A-18. A large portion of the flight testing is planned for Edwards Air Force Base.

--$3.6 billion to produce the F/A-22 fighter, for which components are produced in Palmdale by Lockheed Martin and which is flight-tested at Edwards.

--$1.4 billion to develop and produce unmanned aircraft, which will fund the production of four Global Hawk aircraft built in Palmdale.

--$3.3 million to improve communication bandwidth for the Global Hawk in order to produce better reconnaissance operations.

--$270 million for the continued development of Navy and Air Force unmanned aerial combat vehicles, testing for which is being conducted at Edwards.

--$35 million for programs at Ft. Irwin, near Barstow, including a new school, an urban warfare training facility and funding for its fiber optic program.

--$8 million for the development of fiber-optic sensors at Northrop Grumman in Canoga Park to be used by the U.S. Navy.

--$4 million for an asymmetric warfare initiative at Point Mugu, a program to evaluate technologies designed to recognize terrorism threats.

--$5.1 million to the Pasadena-based nonprofit CalStart for the development of hybrid trucks.

--$4.75 million to the Pasadena-based Cyrano Sciences to develop technology that can detect chemical and biological weapons.

--$10.7 million for a jet and rocket engine test site at San Bernardino International Airport.

--$2.1 billion for the development of 11 C-17 airlift aircraft built at Boeing in Long Beach.

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com