The ranking member of the House Armed Services’ Seapower subcommittee said he is optimistic the House Appropriations Committee will match authorizers in adding a second Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN) to the Navy’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
“There’s definitely been very strong communication at the staff level and member level, in terms of the House Appropriations committee process. And I would just say that I’m feeling very bullish in terms of my conversations with our partners in the HAC-D realm in terms of supporting what we did with adding the Virginia-class submarine,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Seapower subcommittee, told reporters Thursday.
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved a draft of the defense authorization bill that adds $1 billion for a second SSN while zeroing out the same amount in funds for another planned Constellation-class frigate while the class is delayed by several years (Defense Daily, May 13).
Courtney underscored the Navy’s cutting its planned submarine request from two to one surprised members in the House Appropriations Committee like the Armed Services Committee amid the AUKUS plan to sell three SSNs to Australia in the 2030s.
Overall, he said he feels like the effort to boost the submarines is in “pretty solid shape” on the House side.
Courtney said there is also some support for this measure on the Senate side and now that the HASC bill can be seen as a “real black and white proposal… as well as the tables that accompany it, that shows that it’s paid for within the spending cap of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, I think this effort is going to gain even more credibility.”
The frigate shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine has had problems with workforce numbers to complete four Multi-Mission Surface Combatant Ships for Saudi Arabia and move on to the frigate, while the frigate design progress was also frozen for over a year.
The Navy Secretary’s 45-day review of shipbuilding confirmed the frigate is about three years late, with delivery now expected in 2029 (Defense Daily, April 3).
Courtney argued the funding for these two vessels under this scheme are not so directly tied.
“Look at if you really go through the whole bill, there was a lot of both add-ins and deletes that were included in there. And there’s no question that changing the frigate component of the budget created savings, but frankly, those were used in lots of places, not necessarily a one for one with the sub.”
He added despite the authorization change, the frigate is not just going to fall off a cliff, since it is already funded for the first six ships despite the delays.
“It’s also a program, which right now is still not close to even delivering the first in class at this point, the estimates are that it’s at least three years away.”
Courtney said he supports the frigate program, but it has “gotten ahead of its skis in terms of where the production stands versus the design issues that remain outstanding. So, we put a little money in for advanced procurement for that seventh frigate, so it’s not like we’re turning out the lights necessarily on that program.”
He also said the committee would have cut the frigate funding even if they were not looking to redirect funds to a second submarine, given the program’s status.