KLC Requests More Pork

AADC wants more government handouts; they still cannot pay their own way.
As you read through this desperate plea for more corporate welfare, you'll see that AADC is trying to hold the State of Alaska hostage. "If we don't get this money, the Air Force won't want to launch here." (paraphrase)
Boo-hoo.....8-(
Well, if the Air Force wants to use the facility, why don't they PAY for the infrastructure and support they need? Why does Alaska have to bear their burden?
AADC claims that the money is need to provide economic benefits to Alaska communities - shall we come to depend on government funding of the KLC for our welfare? Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has rejected some federal stimulus funds, saying we shouldn't be beholden to the government. Is this really any different?
So, what will Kodiak get from all this? A vastly increased KLC footprint at Narrow Cape, further limiting recreational access and degrading the aesthetic value of the area. More unused structures rusting away in the marine environment, awaiting destruction when the Narrow Cape earthquake fault underlying the site slips. Some temporary boost to construction (which is actually booming right now as it is).
Pay your own way, AADC!

Kodiak Launch Complex Infrastructure FY2010 Request:
Reference No:
$17,500,000
41789
AP/AL: Appropriation Project Type: Construction
Category: Development
Location: Kodiak Contact: Dale K. Nash, Chief Executive Officer
House District: Kodiak (HD 36) Contact Phone: (907)561-3338
Estimated Project Dates: 07/01/2009 - 06/30/2014
Brief Summary and Statement of Need:
Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation (AADC) requests $17.5 million to build two facilities: a dedicated rocket motor storage facility and an additional launch pad. This program contributes to the Department's mission of promoting a healthy economy and strong communities by providing economic growth in the communities it serves.
Funding: FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 Total
Fed Rcpts $14,000,000 $14,000,000
Gen Fund $3,500,000 $3,500,000
Total: $17,500,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $17,500,000
State Match Required One-Time Project Phased - new Phased - underway On-Going
0% = Minimum State Match % Required Amendment Mental Health Bill
Operating & Maintenance Costs: Amount Staff
Project Development: 0 0
Ongoing Operating: 0 0
One-Time Startup: 0
Totals: 0 0
Additional Information / Prior Funding History:
Refer to the funding matrix in the detailed description.
Project Description/Justification:
This is the second of a two-year funding request for this multi-year project.
Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation’s (AADC) Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) requests
funding for the following: a dedicated rocket motor storage facility, an additional launch pad, and related infrastructure. KLC’s existing two launch pads are right next to each and cannot be used simultaneously, thereby limiting customers and launches. The additional facilities will allow multiple launch customers to be on site simultaneously, double KLC’s launch capabilities, and result in KLC being a full service spaceport.
AADC is currently developing a long-term relationship with the U.S. Air Force (USAF). The USAF plans to initiate the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) program with the goal of having launch on-demand capability – placing national defense assets in orbit with very little lead time. KLC is an attractive launch site for the ORS program because the KLC offers flexible launch scheduling not available at other U.S. launch sites; and launches from KLC avoid populated areas, environmentally sensitive areas, and congested air routes. However, the ORS program will require a dedicated rocket motor storage facility and dedicated launch pad. Neither is currently available at the KLC.
An initial ORS demonstration launch is planned for September 2009 and a second potential launch is scheduled for December 2009. Once mature, it is estimated the ORS program will launch four or State of Alaska Capital Project Summary Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Final FY10 SB75 Capital Bill Reference No: 41789
5/20/09 1:37:01 PM Page 1
Kodiak Launch Complex Infrastructure FY2010 Request:
Reference No:
$17,500,000
41789
more payloads to orbit each year. This is in addition to launches already provided for the Department
of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. In addition, the AADC is currently in discussions with other
potential customers such as other Department of Defense agencies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and commercial interests.
The facilities will be built over the next two years and will cost $35 million. In fiscal year 2009 and again in 2010 AADC has/will be requesting $17.5 million. Of that amount, $14.0 million will be provided by the federal government and $3.5 million is requested from the State’s General Fund.
The State’s initial General Fund investment of $15.6 million has resulted in $214 million in revenue, a viable aerospace industry within Alaska, and employment opportunities in Kodiak. KLC has become an acknowledged national asset in the U.S. spaceport inventory. Additional investment by the State will send a strong message that Alaska supports the KLC and the continued expansion of the aerospace industry in Alaska.
If this capital request is not approved, the KLC will not be able to support the U.S. Air Force in its Operationally Responsive Space program. Nor will AADC be able to attract other potential customers as the KLC will continue to be limited – unable to accommodate multiple launch customers on site simultaneously.
Funding History
Year Amount Legislation AR #
FY 1999 5,000,000 SLA 98 Ch 139 Page 40 Line 9 32591-04
FY 2000 6,000,000 SLA 99 Ch 2 Page 38 Line 21 32646-04
FY 2000 9,300,000 RPL 0810064 32647-04
FY 2001 17,900,000 SLA 00 Ch 135 Page 3 Line 13 32627-05
FY 2002 4,500,000 SLA 01 Ch 61 Page 3 Line 23 32639-06
FY 2002 20,000,00 SSSLA 02 Ch 1 Page 112 Line 4 32673-06
FY 2004 38,000,000 SLA 03 Ch 82 Page 45 Line15 32679-08
FY 2006 36,000,000 FSSLA05 Ch3 Page3 Line27 32723-09
FY 2007 15,000,000 SLA 06 Ch82 Page 3 Line 30 10334-11
FY 2008 15,000,000 SLA 07 Ch30 Page 84 Line 31 6355-12
FY 2009 17,500,000 SLA 08 Ch29 Page 88 Line 9 4689-13
State of Alaska Capital Project Summary Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Final FY10 SB75 Capital Bill Reference No: 41789
5/20/09 1:37:01 PM Page 2

Recent Earthquake Activity Near Kodiak Island

Multiple earthquakes in the Kodiak vicinity raise concerns about conditions at the Narrow Cape fault which underlies the Kodiak Launch Complex. The potential for a large magnitude earthquake resulting in damage at the KLC is increasing at this time.
For more detailed information on the fault:
http://saltonstall.blogspot.com/2009/02/alaska-aerospace-kodiak-rocket-launch.html

12:47 PM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	3.47 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
12:03 PM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	3.05 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
11:59 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	3.78 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
11:23 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	4.51 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
10:41 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	3.86 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
10:38 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	3.62 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
10:24 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	4.65 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
10:15 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	2.74 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
09:53 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	2.93 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
09:38 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	4.25 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
03:26 AM AKDT Friday May 15th, 2009	2.44 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
03:57 PM AKDT Thursday May 14th, 2009	1.75 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
11:08 AM AKDT Thursday May 14th, 2009	1.26 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska
08:05 AM AKDT Thursday May 14th, 2009	1.29 ML	in the Kodiak Island region of Alaska

Kodiak Launch Complex Already Outdated & Obsolete?

Danger Room What’s Next in National Security

Top General: Missile Defense Is Dead, Long Live Missile Defense (Updated)

• By Nathan Hodge
• March 24, 2009 |

Ballistic missile defense as we know it is all but dead, one of the country’s top military just declared. But already, there are new anti-missile priorities taking shape.

General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, relayed the message yesterday to the defense industry. "Ballistic missiles are about as passé as e-mail," he said to an audience of missile-defense contractors. "Nobody does it anymore. It’s just gone… no stupid person, enemy out there would be so silly as to come at us with a minimum-energy trajectory. Give me a break. Even the people we would call ‘Third World’ have gone beyond that."

The administration of President George W. Bush poured around $10 billion a year into ballistic missile defense; it focused particular effort on fielding a limited missile defense capability that would protect the United States from a lone missile lobbed by a rogue state (i.e., North Korea). It also expended serious political capital trying to seal a politically controversial deal to station missile defense interceptors in Eastern Europe.

In theory, the European site was supposed to protect the United States and Europe from long-range ballistic missiles launched from the Middle East (although Iran has yet to acquire a missile that could reach the United States). Cartwright said missile defense funds would shift toward deterring more realistic threats. "The architecture associated with those terminal defense type capabilities, those area defense type capabilities that have the mobility and have the capability to be out there to address those threats are where we are going to start to put money," he said. "Because it is the most likely."

That’s good news for the developers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, a "hit-to-kill" air defense system that can knock down short- and medium-range missiles at greater ranges and higher altitudes than the Patriot system. But it’s not so great for defense contractors who are designing far-out systems to destroy enemy missiles in the vulnerable "boost" phase. As Noah noted earlier today, one major boost-phase program is already in the crosshairs: the laser-equipped Boeing 747 that is supposed to zap missiles out of the sky as they rise from the launch pad.

Observers are also wondering what this shift means for Boeing’s Ground Based Midcourse Defense, or GMD. The Bush administration activated GMD at two sites, one in Alaska and one in California; according to Reuters, Cartwright said the future of the system would depend on whether it could counter other threats. "The more utility, the more willing you’re going to be to put money in it," he said.

Interestingly, Gen. Bantz Craddock, the head of U.S. European Command, said in written testimony submitted today that the U.S. Navy was studying the feasibility of stationing a missile-defense-capable Aegis ship to defend the Eastern Mediterranean region. In his testimony, Craddock said the Navy was leading an "urgent effort" to develop a command-and-control architecture for an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ship operating in defense of countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

At first glance, that sounds like a more realistic way to counter the Iran missile threat than deploying the long-range GMD system in Europe. The U.S. military has previously looked at the possibility of creating an "instant" ballistic-missile defense system by tying the land-based X-band radar developed for Thaad with sea-based radars and interceptors; Rick Lehner of the Missile Defense Agency told Danger Room a transportable X-band radar has been used in previous tests to provide cueing information to an Aegis ship which then used the data to perform a simulated launch and intercept.

UPDATE: The Obama administration is also picking up on a top complaint of the missile defense critics: namely, that missile defense testing isn’t real enough. Elaine Grossman of Global Security Newswire quotes Peter Verga, the acting deputy defense policy chief, as saying: "I think anything the test community can do to reassure people that the tests are, in fact, operationally realistic is very important."

PHOTO: U.S. Army

MDA Launch from Vandenburg AFB 05 May 2009

Vandenberg Delta II Launch For Missile Defense Agency Successful

Thu, 07 May '09

A Delta II rocket managed by NASA's Launch Services Program lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA., Tuesday with a spacecraft for the United States Missile Defense Agency.

The spacecraft is called the Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction mission, or STSS-ATRR. Liftoff from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 occurred at 1:24 p.m. PDT.The launch vehicle was a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7920-10c. Spacecraft separation occurred approximately one hour after liftoff.

"With confirmation of the payload's delivery into the correct orbit, the launch is a success," said Chuck Dovale, launch director for the NASA's Launch Services Program.

NASA also will manage the launch of another mission for the Missile Defense Agency aboard a Delta II rocket this summer from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

AADC 2008 Lobbying Expenses

From Opensecrets.org

Alaska Aerospace Development Corp

A special interest’s lobbying activity may go up or down over time, depending on how much attention the federal government is giving their issues. Particularly active clients often retain multiple lobbying firms, each with a team of lobbyists, to press their case for them.

Year: 20092008200720062005200420032002200120001999

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $50,000
Subtotal for Parent Alaska Aerospace Development Corp: $50,000

Industry	Total
Defense Aerospace	$50,000

Lobbying Expenses Reported by Subsidiary Alaska Aerospace Development Corp

Firms Hired	Total Reported by Filer	Reported Contract Expenses (included in Total Reported by Filer)
Birch, Horton et al		$10,000
Cohen Group		$40,000

*Each quarterly filing is treated as a separate report, and each may mention multiple clients.

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