U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday the money would be used to build three concrete high-explosive magazines at the Brunswick base, replacing 15 antiquated and unsafe weapons magazines.

A separate defense authorization bill which the House approved during the weekend also includes millions of dollars for Maine defense projects. The bill does not appropriate money for the projects.

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said that while the bill is "a boon to Maine's defense facilities and industries," it does not include a provision to delay the scheduled 2005 base closure round by two years to 2007.

A task force formed by business leaders in the Brunswick area has been formed to keep the naval air station off the 2005 base closure list. It says the defense facility pumps more than $300 million a year into the area's economy.

Allen said the House-backed defense bill includes $35 million for work at the Pratt & Whitney aircraft facility in North Berwick, $11 million for work at Saco Defense and $2.5 million for work to be performed jointly by Applied Thermal Sciences of Sanford and Technology Systems Inc. of Wiscasset.

In addition, said Allen, Bath Iron Works will benefit from funding in the bill for the DDG-51 destroyer program. The legislation includes $3.44 billion for procurement of three new ships, two of which will be built by the General Dynamics contractor.

The legislation also includes $50 million in new funds to accelerate the installation of new technologies on DDG-51 destroyers already in the fleet.

The bill includes $1.5 billion for the DD-X destroyer program, and adds $84 million to accelerate construction of the second ship in the class, scheduled for construction at Bath Iron Works.