Panel sinks Navy's $2.5B request for DDG-1000 destroyer

The House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee Thursday unanimously approved its portion of the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill after agreeing to deny the Navy's request for a DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyer.

The panel rejected the $2.5 billion request for the third DDG-1000 in fiscal 2009, a move that essentially would put an indefinite hold on one of the Navy's biggest modernization programs.

Instead, lawmakers added $400 million in advanced procurement money that the Navy can use either for DDG-1000 work or to restart production on the older but more affordable DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyer.

But Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he strongly urges the Navy to use the money for the DDG-51 rather than as a down payment on the third of seven planned DDG-1000s.

The decision reflects growing concerns within the subcommittee about the production of the first two DDG-1000s, as well as the Navy's ability to pay for its ambitious 313-ship plan.

"There are too many unknowns in the construction schedule for these two vessels," Taylor said. "Even if all the development required for the ship was complete, a cost overrun for the two lead ships, based strictly on historical averages, could easily be in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion." The impact of those cost overruns, Taylor added, would "cripple" the Navy.

Other ship programs fared better Thursday. The subcommittee approved an additional $1.8 billion for an LPD-17 amphibious warfare ship. The Pentagon had not requested funding for the 10th and 11th LPD-17, but the Navy and Marine Corps listed it as a top unfunded priority. The panel approved the Navy's request for two T-AKE auxiliary dry cargo dock carriers in fiscal 2009, but also added money and encouraged the service to use it to buy two more T-AKEs. "These are important changes," Taylor said. "This mark indicates the subcommittee's disagreement with the Navy decision to cancel the construction of the last two ships of the T-AKE class and to not fulfill the validated Marine Corps requirement for 11 LPD-17 class ships."

In other action, the panel approved an amendment from Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., to add $300 million in fiscal 2009 for advanced procurement funding for a second submarine in fiscal 2010. Courtney's district includes General Dynamics' Electric Boat unit, which builds the Navy's Virginia-class submarines. The funding would allow the Navy to build two subs in fiscal 2010 instead of the one planned. The panel backed the Navy's request for two Littoral Combat Ships, but trimmed $80 million from the program because some material had already been procured. The subcommittee inserted language requiring that future classes of amphibious assault vehicles be nuclear powered. The Navy, however, does not have plans for another amphibious assault vehicle.

Earlier Thursday, the House Armed Services Terrorism Subcommittee unanimously approved its portion of the authorization bill, calling for additional funds and higher-level management authority for irregular warfare capabilities, cyber warfare and special-operations forces. Armed Services Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said the panel's mark focused resources on meeting the unconventional challenges facing the nation and its military. It added relatively small amounts of funding for items on the Special Operations Command's unfunded priorities list; the irregular warfare support program, the effort to develop "human terrain teams" that help military forces understand the cultural differences in Iraq and Afghanistan; the Chemical-Biological Defense Program; and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The additional funding for the cultural adviser program was pushed by Terrorism Subcommittee ranking member Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who said, "We cannot defeat terrorists with bullets alone."