Legislator seeks bond funds for military lab

SANFORD – A state senator wants the Maine Legislature to earmark $500,000 of an upcoming state-borrowing proposal to start a consortium with the goal of developing the next generation of unmanned military vehicles.

The consortium would be anchored by Applied Thermal Sciences, an engineering research and development firm with defense-contracting experience. But it could include companies from throughout the state, officials said.

Supporters of the consortium project said Maine would be an ideal place for a Department of Defense unmanned vehicles laboratory.

Lawmakers tentatively agreed on an $83 million bond package last week. The proposal, which would reach voters in November if approved by two-thirds of the Legislature, includes $20 million for job creation projects, the bulk of which would fund biomedical and marine research.

Sen. Jon Courtney, R-Sanford, said he made his request because there is nothing in the current borrowing plan to help offset the possible closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

“I’m not gonna sit around and wait to get hit,” Courtney said Friday.

Several prominent politicians, including President Bush and Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, have said the military needs more unmanned vehicles, particularly aircraft.

The Department of Defense plans to spend around $18 billion over the next several years to develop the technology, said Les Stevens, Sanford’s economic affairs director.

Stevens said he has been working with Applied Thermal Sciences for months to get state funding for the project. He said the consortium’s headquarters would be built near the town’s airport on Route 109.

The project would need around $4 million in seed money over the next few years. Stevens said officials originally planned to ask for all of the money in next year’s bonding package, but they felt the possibility of the shipyard closing warranted immediate action.

Stevens said state financial support would make the consortium attractive to federal defense officials, which could produce federal contracts.

“The real money is going to come from the Department of Defense,” he said.

Bases in Texas and North Dakota currently threatened by the BRAC process are already pursuing similar technology to offset the effects of closure.

Sanford officials said the consortium would spark spin-off industry that would further absorb shipyard losses if the facility is closed.

“Throughout the nation, wherever a federal laboratory is developed, industry just springs,” said Bob Carr, a project manager at Applied Thermal Sciences.