$22M secured for regional defense projects

Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt has secured $22 million in federal funding to develop defense technology in the region.

The funding is part of a Department of Defense authorization bill approved by the House of Representatives last Thursday, according to a Blunt news release. The bill now needs approval from the Senate and the President.

The appropriations are:[[In-content Ad]]$6 million to Jordan Valley Innovation Center affiliates Missouri State University and St. John's Health System to develop mobile eye trauma units. The in-field units would get treatment quicker to soldiers wounded by improvised explosive devices;

• $6 million to JVIC affiliates MSU and Crosslink to develop a novel drug delivery system for amputee and burn victims. The local drug delivery system would minimize pain and discomfort at the site of an amputated limb without leaving patients with the complication of a systematic delivery of the drug; and

• $10 million to LaBarge Inc. to develop components of David's Sling, a joint United States/Israel program that creates an affordable stunner interceptor used in defense by both countries.