President signs Defense authorization bill

President Bush on Thursday signed into law a bill authorizing Defense Department programs for fiscal 2005.

The statute authorizes $445.6 billion for Defense and the national security programs of the Energy Department, including $11.2 billion for the department's science and technology program and $60.2 million for a technology program to combat terrorism.

The law also authorizes $40 million to develop a real-time satellite communications system for troops. Another $230 million will go toward unmanned aerial vehicles, night-vision equipment and electromagnetic propulsion technology for gun systems.

And the law contains a provision that requires Defense to plan a transition to the next version of the Internet, Internet protocol version 6.