House panel pushes for building 3 subs a year
The Navy will build up to 13 Virginia-class attack submarines from 2019 to 2023 — if lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, get their way.
The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces is taking the first crack at increasing submarine production as part of deliberations into how defense dollars will be spent in the 2018 fiscal year.
The subcommittee wants to authorize the Navy, when it buys the next group of attack submarines — formally known as Block V — to build up to 13 submarines over five years. That would mean an increase from the current two-per-year build rate to three submarines a year in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The request follows a new force structure assessment from the Navy that prioritizes submarine production, and testimony from combatant commanders warning about an expected drop in the number of attack submarines and increased activity by the Chinese and Russians.
Lawmakers listened, said Courtney, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, which is "sending a strong message that we're ready to embrace a more aggressive build rate of three subs a year."
That would mean more work for Electric Boat, which is in Courtney's district, and Newport News Shipbuilding — the two private yards that build U.S. submarines. Courtney expressed confidence that the defense industrial base would be able keep up with the increased pace of construction.
The Navy has set an ambitious goal of building up to 355 ships from the 276 it has now, including a new requirement for 66 attack submarines.
A Congressional Budget Office report found that getting to 355 ships would cost, on average, $26.6 billion a year over the next 30 years. That's more than 60 percent above the average amount that Congress has appropriated for shipbuilding over the past 30 years, the report points out.
Courtney is confident that Congress will approve the 13 submarines, but the "top line" of the defense budget, which lawmakers like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., want to be $640 billion, will be a tougher sell, he said.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Pentagon details Chinese military developments, including a "high priority" to modernize its submarine force. And Russia recently launched its most powerful nuclear attack submarine to date. The Kazan, a Yasen-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, is armed with torpedoes and long-range Kalibr cruise missiles.
"The premise five or six years ago was that there was going to be a pivot to Asia," Courtney said. "Sixty percent of the fleet was going to be in the Asia-Pacific because the threat in the Middle East and Europe was manageable with 40 percent of the fleet. That changed because of intervening events with the Russian navy buildup and the other activities that are out there."
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