Endorsed By:

Aerospace Engineering Division, American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Aerospace Industries Association

American Association of Engineering Societies (representing 27 engineering societies with a membership of over 1 million engineers and scientists)

American Helicopter Society

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

American Society of Civil Engineers

General Aviation Manufacturers Association

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers -U.S.A.

NASA Aeronautics Support Team

NASA Alumni League		 June 10, 2002


The Honorable John B. Larson
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Larson:

The Aviation Coalition endorses H.R. 4653, the "Aeronautics Research and Development Revitalization Act of 2002." The Aviation Coalition is comprised of professional societies and trade groups representing more than 1 million engineers, scientists and researchers.

In recent years, our Coalition has expressed concerns that reducing federal funding for aviation research and technology will jeopardize the nation's leadership in providing the technologies needed to develop the next generation aircraft, improve aviation safety and security, and attract the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. Assuring the nation's ability to develop innovative technologies to inhibit future terrorist usurpation of the nation's air transportation system, as well as to develop advanced technologies for our air defense network is of paramount importance.

Over the last decade, funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) aeronautics research and development (R&D) program has fallen by approximately 50 percent, and unfortunately this trend is continuing. The Administration's Fiscal Year 2003 (FY03) budget request of $541.4M for aeronautics is a reduction of $58M from FY02 appropriated funding. We strongly support your efforts to counter the dramatic decline in U.S. research and development spending in aeronautics.

The "Aeronautics Research and Development Revitalization Act of 2002" will provide a funding basis for NASA to plan and implement a program to achieve the objectives of their "Aeronautics Blueprint-Toward a Bold New Era of Aviation," which we strongly support. We believe such a program is vital to U.S. Aviation and a necessary response to accelerated research and development by the European Union and other global competitors. By introducing this legislation, you have also taken the first step to address a recommendation of the President's Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry for "the Administration and Congress to work together to fund a new R&D initiative to develop a new 21st Century air transportation system for the nation."

We commend you for your leadership in introducing this important legislation, and we look forward to working with you and other Members of Congress, in re-establishing the investment in aeronautics research and development as a national priority.

If you have any questions, please contact Kathryn Holmes at holmesk@asme.org or 202/785-3756, Ext. 390.

 

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Last Update:  10 June 2002
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