BANGOR – Further research and manufacturing of resin-fiber composite-based products for military applications will take place if Congress approves $4 million in funding that earlier this week unanimously passed through a U.S. House committee.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud secured the inclusion of the funding in the defense appropriations bill that came out of the House appropriations committee on Wednesday.

Maine Monolite LLC, a subsidiary of Monolite Composites of Woodland, Wash., would receive $2 million to manufacture lightweight resin-fiber composite material called monolite.

The material, which supposedly can withstand bullets and temperatures of up to 2,850 degrees, would be used in spring rotary engines that are considered highly energy efficient as well as ballistic-protection panels for military vehicles, according to Anthony Burich, managing director of Maine Monolite, this week.

“The technology behind these things are proven and tested,” he said. “This is not a leap of faith.”

The product line is being called the Mobile Thermal Perimeter Surveillance System.

“The viability of the monolite material for proposed products as well as the potential market within the U.S. Armed Forces is very encouraging,” Michaud said in a statement. “With this potential defense funding, we are one step closer in making this project a reality for our region, an area so hard-hit by job loss.”

Maine Monolite hopes to employ up to 200 people two years after entering the Millinocket area.

The company would use the $2 million to continue its research, which would go through a certification process at the University of Maine, and to set up a manufacturing facility in Bath, he said. The company then would expand to Millinocket.

Last week, the city of Bath approved a $400,000 Community Block Grant for Maine Monolite.

Within about two years, the company expects to invest about $6 million in research and development, the acquisition of electronics and components, and to set up a manufacturing site in Millinocket, Burich said.

The defense appropriations bill also includes $2 million for the University of Maine’s proposed U.S. Army Center. The center would study the use of wood-composite technology in the production of bridges, bunkers, housing, piers and storage facilities that can be carried easily and constructed quickly for military purposes, Michaud said.

The center will partner with more than 90 composite materials manufacturers statewide to generate new defense high-tech manufacturing and research jobs, Michaud said.

Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center at the UMaine, credited Michaud for getting the funding included in the defense appropriations bill.

“It is the first-step in establishing the center in the Army budget,” said Dagher about the appropriations committee vote this week in a statement.

Burich also credited Michaud for securing the money in the bill. Both Dagher and Burich said U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are pushing the funding in the U.S. Senate.

“This guy, who is a freshman congressman, was able to achieve in a very short period of time what some very seasoned veterans that I have known could not,” Burich said. “It’s not a first step. It’s a first giant step.”