A.V. MAY BENEFIT IN BUDGET BUSH WANTS $379 BILLION.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - President George W. Bush's 2003 defense budget request bodes well for the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley with more money being sought for jet fighters and unmanned aircraft Unmanned Aircraft (UA) is a term used in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) definition of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). UA refers to the aircraft portion of the system required to operate it, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. and the Pentagon looking to invest in ``quality of life'' efforts for its people. The president is requesting $379 billion for defense, with $10 billion of that request earmarked for contingencies in the war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act . The 2002 defense budget was $330.6 billion. The budget request includes funding for new and ongoing improvements to the B-2 stealth bomber fleet, but the amount of the funding was not immediately ascertainable. Improvements planned for the aircraft include upgrades to the radar system, improvements to reduce maintenance times and engineering work leading up to the bomber being capable of carrying the small-diameter bomb, a precision-guided weapon in development. The budget request includes $1.7 billion for the development of the joint strike fighter A strike fighter is a fighter aircraft which is also capable of attacking surface targets, including ships. It differs from an attack aircraft in that the aircraft remains a capable fighter. and $5.3 billion for the construction of 23 F-22 aircraft. Lockheed Martin's Palmdale plant is supporting both projects with engineering and parts manufacturing work. The budget request also includes $1 billion for unmanned aircraft, including $170.8 million for the assembly of three more Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft at Palmdale. The Defense Department is also looking to accelerate the development of the aircraft, which includes flight test work at Edwards Air Force Base. The Bush administration is seeking $58 million for its unmanned combat air vehicle The Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) or "combat drones" is the name of a new class of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). They differ from ordinary UAVs, because they are designed to deliver weapons (attack targets) – possibly with a great degree of autonomy. program, nearly tripling the 2002 funding levels. A Pentagon official referred to the 2002 level for the program as being ``so minimal as to be trivial,'' but said the 2003 request now shows the Pentagon is ``serious about it.'' The Antelope Valley is playing roles in the development of unmanned combat aircraft. Boeing is flight testing its two X-45 UCAV UCAV Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle UCAV Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle UCAV Uninhabited Combat Aerial Vehicle Air Force aircraft at Edwards; Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. built an aircraft in support of a Navy UCAV in Mojave and will test the aircraft in the high desert. Lockheed Martin's Palmdale plant also is conducting research into unmanned aircraft and General Atomics' Predator UAV UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UAV Unmanned Air Vehicle UAV Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle UAV Unmanned Airborne Vehicle UAV Uninhabited Air Vehicle UAV Urban Assault Vehicle UAV Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle (less common) gets final flight checks at the Gray Butte Butte, city, United States Butte (by  t), city (1990 pop. 33,336), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It is a trade, ranching, and industrial center. Airport southeast of Lake Los Angeles. The budget request includes $154 million to buy 22 armed Predators. The budget request includes a 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel. The administration is also exploring the possibility of additional pay raises for mid-grade officers and enlisted personnel and those in skill areas facing acute shortages. ``Military quality of life is crucial to retaining service members and their families,'' the president said in the budget request. ``To recruit and retain these people, the department has increased funding and will work to enhance the number of quality-of-life efforts, including compensation, housing and health care, among other community and family work-life support programs.'' Saying that a fifth of all service members live in inadequate housing, the Bush administration is seeking $4.2 billion for housing. The goal is to expedite an effort aimed at eliminating most inadequate housing by 2007 instead of 2010. The Bush administration is also seeking to aid personnel living in private housing by reducing out-of-pocket housing costs from 11.3 percent to 7.5 percent. |
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