
Six senators and 33 House members have signed letters urging key congressional appropriators to pass language allowing the successor to the Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine to enter its next development phase.Navy officials have said the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP) must begin detailed design work by January to meet a requirement to conduct the first ORP patrol in fiscal year 2031. But the go-ahead for the work is contained in the FY 2017 defense appropriations bill, which is stalled on…