Senate passes defense bill that includes projects for the Coast

The U.S. Senate just passed Congress’ annual defense bill, the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation includes numerous Mississippi priorities.

The bill passed the House last week and now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., serves as the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It is expected that Wicker’s colleagues will elect him SASC chairman in early January 2025.

“The wins in this bill demonstrate clearly that Mississippi’s military bases and defense industry are important contributors to national security. American service members across the world are safer because of the national security work done by Mississippians: whether it be through ships built at our shipyards, weapons, equipment, and ammunition from our manufacturers, or research conducted at our universities,” Wicker said.

Among the items that affect the military nationally, the bill calls for a 14.5 percent pay increase for military E-1 through E-4 and a 4.5 percent increase for all other military members.

A last-minute addendum to the bill that caused some Democrats to vote against the entire package was to ban the Department of Defense from paying for gender-reassignment treatments for minors.

A few key elements of the bill could ensure Mississippi receives additional investments in artificial intelligence, unmanned weapons systems, special operations activities, naval fleet construction, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and national security research.

Specifically, items in the bill that affect the Coast include:

• $25 million to complete construction of a new Air Traffic Control Tower at Keesler Air Force Base, which is used by the 403^rd Weather Reconnaissance Wing.
• $60 million to provide economic adjustments to support the Navajo class towing, salvage, and rescue ships, many of which are built in Pascagoula.
• $10 million for the development of low-cost, rapidly deployable maritime sensors with supportive report language, which will be spent in Gulfport. This funding could support a partnership between Mississippi’s defense industry and the University of Southern Mississippi.
• $10 million to support new coating for submarine hulls, which would maintain four jobs and create four new jobs in Gulfport. If successful, full-scale production could lead to hundreds of jobs.
• $9 million to allow for the purchase of additional autonomous dual surface and underwater vehicles for Navy experimentation and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, supporting work in Gulfport. The bill also included language to designate an appropriate program sponsor to support future acquisition of these vessels.
• $6 million to establish an operational center providing real-time cyber operation security to small businesses, which would be located in Biloxi.
• $7 million to address cost hike and workforce reduction concerns caused by the cuts in the procurement rate of CCA’s, which could support work in Gulfport.
• $8 million to sustain the High Performance Computing Modernization Program’s efforts, personnel, and facilities, supporting defense applications across various scientific disciplines, enhancing weapons system development, which affects 21 employees in Mississippi.
• $2 million for advanced composite materials for wet submarines, which supports ongoing work in Gulfport.