House panel votes to boost spending for new Navy carrier

The House Armed Services Committee agreed Wednesday to increase spending on the Navy's CVN-21 next-generation aircraft carrier by $86.7 million for advanced procurement items as it began marking up its fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill.

Before Congress makes the money available, the Defense Department must certify that the additional funding would allow the Navy to begin production of the carrier in 2007, one year ahead of the administration's plans.

The Navy expects to deploy the carrier by 2014.

The amendment -- adopted by voice vote and offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., as a substitute for one offered by Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va. -- would transfer money out of defensewide operations and maintenance accounts. Davis' original amendment did not include the certification stipulation. Bartlett's amendment comes as the Pentagon proposes to retire the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, reducing its carrier fleet to 11 ships. In his draft of the authorization bill, House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., requires the Navy to maintain a minimum of 11 carriers.

Several lawmakers, including Hunter, have expressed concerns about the skyrocketing costs of weapons systems in general and the CVN-21 in particular. By the time it enters service, the carrier is expected to cost $13.7 billion -- roughly double initial estimates.

"It is unclear if the cost increases are commensurate" with better capabilities, said Bartlett, chairman of the Projection Forces Subcommittee, which oversees naval programs. As it stands right now, the carrier "appears unaffordable," he added.

Davis stressed that the carrier will incorporate performance-enhancing and cost-saving technologies that will bring down total lifetime ownership costs by $4 billion to $6 billion.