Lawmakers urge Navy to boost submarine orders

Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., has urged the Navy to double its annual orders for Virginia-class nuclear submarines earlier than planned, a move that would help keep afloat a struggling sector of the defense industry and protect potentially thousands of jobs at General Dynamics' Electric Boat shipyard in his district.

In a letter late last week to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen, Simmons and other congressional supporters of the submarine program implored the Navy to boost production on the nuclear-powered vessels to two ships a year beginning in fiscal 2009, three years earlier than the Navy has planned.

The lawmakers argued that the Navy's slow procurement plan will hinder efforts to realize Mullen's goal of maintaining a fleet of 48 nuclear-powered submarines. The Navy now has 54 submarines, many of which will be retired over the next several years.

Under the Navy's current schedule, the submarine force would bottom out at 40 boats in 2028. Starting to build two subs a year in fiscal 2009 instead of fiscal 2012 would bring the number to 43.

In fact, a new Congressional Research Service report indicates that the Navy would have to average 2.2 new submarine orders a year for 16 years to prevent its fleet from dropping below the target number of 48.

"If the Navy requires 48 nuclear attack submarines, as you have suggested, then the shipbuilding plan should hold as close to that number as possible for as many years as possible," Simmons said in his letter, which was co-signed by six other members of the House Armed Services Committee. "The alternative is higher risk and less stability for our U.S. combatant commanders."

Simmons added that producing two boats a year would help bring overall costs on the $2.4 billion submarines down to the Navy's $2 billion goal.

Boosting submarine orders might be a tough sell because of a constrained budget environment. The Defense Department alone is expected to trim $32 billion from its projected budgets over the next five years.

And with the Navy set on procuring seven pricey next-generation destroyers and other ships over the next several years, it is unclear how realistic Simmons' request is.

But one key congressional staffer noted that submariners have been waiting since the early 1990s to beef up their production lines, which have been stagnant at one new ship a year for the last 15 years. "I think supporters have an argument here," the staffer said.

Amid fears of layoffs at Electric Boat, Simmons last month created the congressional submarine caucus to advocate for increased budgets for the Navy's underwater warfare programs. Several lawmakers already have signed on, including co-chair Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who also signed the letter to Mullen. Electric Boat has a submarine outfitting facility at Quonset Point in Langevin's district.