FUNDING APPROVED FOR 2ND VIRGINIA-CLASS SUB
The committee set a total of $4.6 billion for fiscal 2021 spending
U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed to fund a second Virginia-class submarine this year, after the Trump Administration requested funds for only one.
The conference committee, convened to resolve differences between what the House and Senate wanted to spend on defense in fiscal year 2021 (which started Nov. 1) also increased funding for the new Columbia-class submarines.
The committee set a total of $4.6 billion for fiscal 2021 spending on Virginia-class submarines, which includes $2.3 billion above the administration’s request to pay for work on a second submarine.
It also added $272 million to the Administration’s $1.9 billion request for long lead time purchases of material for Virginia-class submarines and $130 million to the administration’s proposed $1.1 billion for advance procurement of material for the new Columbia-class submarines.
Its report retained the 3% pay raise for military personnel.
Restoring funds for Virginia-class subs was paramount, said U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Service’s seapower panel.
“These submarines are critical to both our national defense strategy and the Commonwealth’s economy,” he said.
Overall, the conference committee’s 2021 plan funds this year’s work on one Columbia-class submarine, two Virginia-class submarines, two Arleigh
Burke-class destroyers, one guided-missile frigate, two towing-salvage and rescue ships and one expeditionary fast transport ship.
It also includes $1.9 billion for refueling and overhaul of nuclear carriers, work done at Newport News, and $1.6 billion for work on the nuclear carrier CVN-81, the Doris Miller, which Newport News is slated to deliver in 2030. The conference committee also agreed to a multi-year procurement of three smaller amphibious ships and one large deck amphibious ship.
“The conferees’ intent in authorizing additional funds for submarine industrial base expansion is to ensure second- and third-tier contractors are able to meet increased production requirements,” the conference committee said.
Newport News Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Connecticut have collaborated on building nuclear submarines for several years, in a unique team effort.
“We are pleased to see the support of the Virginia-class program, as well (as) the bundled
procurement of amphibious warships included in the conference report for the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act,” said Beci Brenton, public affairs director at Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Newport News yard’s parent company. HII also owns a yard in Mississippi that builds amphibious ships and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
“We have invested in both our facilities and workforce to enable the efficient construction of these ships to meet the needs of the Navy, and support of the Congress in this regard is greatly appreciated,” Brenton said.
Electric Boat is taking the lead on the Columbia program, and last month awarded Newport News a $2.2 billion contract to build six module sections for each of the Navy’s first two Columbia-class submarines. Newport News began advance construction on the first in May 2019.
To keep the Columbia
program on track, Newport News is picking up a larger portion of the work it has long shared with Electric Boat.
T h e Nav y ’ s latest contract for Virginia-class subs cut the number to be built over the next several years from 10 to 9. That $22.2 billion contract, awarded to the Newport News-Electric Boat team,
was the largest shipbuilding contract ever.
The Senate and House armed services committees have pushed to increase the Block V boat total to 10, and said it was necessary to fund a second submarine this year to reach that 10-boat goal.