The House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee voted unanimously Thursday to authorize $400 million to allow the Navy to begin building two Virginia Class submarines a year in 2009 -- three years earlier than the Navy planned.
As it marked up its portion of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill, the panel also ordered the Navy to maintain its submarine fleet with at least 48 boats, a move that could throw a wrench in the service's long-term shipbuilding plan. The Navy intends to decrease the size of its fast-attack sub fleet from 53 today to 48, in part due to the greater capabilities offered by a new generation of nuclear submarines.
But the rate at which the Navy intends to buy the boats and retire older subs would bring the fleet down to fewer than 48 submarines between 2020 and 2034, and bottom out at for at least a year at 40 boats.
Lawmakers, led by Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., have questioned the Navy's plans, citing strategic concerns as well as the impact slow purchases of new submarines would have on the struggling U.S. shipbuilding industry. But Navy officials have stood firm and have argued that buying two submarines in 2009 and keeping a minimum of 48 boats in the fleet would jeopardize other aspects of its master acquisition plan for surface ships and submarines.
House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee Chairman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., said he intends to allow the Navy to devise its own plan to keep the sub fleet at 48 boats.
Overall, the subcommittee agreed to add $1.3 billion to the Bush administration's $30.7 billion request for Navy and Marine Corps programs, deep-strike bombers and strategic-lift aircraft. Lawmakers added $200 million to accelerate upgrades for DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and $300 million to procure three additional C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes, a program with strong congressional support.
The subcommittee also authorized the Navy to buy a next-generation DD(X) destroyer in fiscal 2007, and provided funding to begin advanced design work on a second ship at a second shipyard. But Bartlett said he would like to hold DD(X) procurement to two ships -- well below the seven the Navy plans to buy.
After Thursday's brief markup, Bartlett said he viewed DD(X) as "little more than a technology demonstration" for the CG(X) cruiser, which the Navy will put in the water in a decade.
His panel also approved strict legislative language requiring the Navy to stick to its cost estimates on the CVN-21 aircraft carrier, the LHA amphibious assault ship, and the LPD-17 amphibious transport dock ship.
"These provisions support the chief of naval operations' shipbuilding plan, which he can only hope to afford by keeping these programs within Navy cost estimates," Bartlett said. In addition, the subcommittee agreed to prohibit the retirement of any B-52 bombers, except for the one flown by NASA.
The panel's mark also sets a minimum strategic airlift force structure at 299 planes -- a number that bars the Air Force from retiring any of its C-5 Galaxy planes before September 2008, Bartlett said.
Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee swiftly approved its portion of the authorization bill Thursday, agreeing to an $856 million increase over President Bush's fiscal 2007 request for military operations and maintenance.
Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said that although the request was 9.4 percent more than the current operations and maintenance budget, it only took into account inflation and increased fuel costs, not the reality of equipment wearing out quickly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Elaine S. Povich contributed to this report.