WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today passed the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included provisions backed by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to benefit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

“Wright-Patterson is critical to our military, and is central to the economy of our state,” Brown, co-chair of the Senate Air Force Caucus, said. “These provisions will better serve the women and men who work on base and increase opportunities for collaboration between AFRL and the greater Dayton community. I will continue to work to ensure that the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is fully utilized and the men and women working there have the resources they need.”

KITTYHAWK SATELLITE PHARMACY
Following Brown’s urging, the NDAA included $6,623,000 in federal funding to replace Wright-Patterson’s Kittyhawk satellite pharmacy. In April 2014, Wright-Patterson reported that a robotic prescription filling equipment error caused Tylenol to be found in Robaxin prescriptions, a muscle relaxant. In addition to updating the robotics equipment to reduce the potential for such errors, the new modern facility would include enough room to facilitate patient counseling.

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY
The NDAA also included a Brown provision to enhance collaboration between defense laboratories, including the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and academia and industry. This opportunity creates connections between the work done at AFRL and the work done by scientists and engineers in the greater Dayton region, enabling transfer of lab-generated technology to small businesses and industry.

Brown has worked to guarantee that Wright-Patterson receives funding and resources necessary to preserve jobs in the Miami Valley. He worked with key Senate leadership to secure $29.5 million to upgrade the Foreign Materiel Exploitation (FME) facility at Wright-Patterson’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). A groundbreaking was held in June.

 

 

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