The Navy’s undersea warfare portfolio got a financial shot in the arm last week, netting $19 million from the House Armed Services Committee to bolster its work on next-generation submarines and overall undersea capabilities.
The separate amendments by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) set aside $10 million for design and development on the Navy’s next-generation submarines, and another $9 million for overall “advanced submarine development” according to the legislation. Both proposals were unanimously approved by the committee and folded into the panel’s version of the fiscal year 2012 defense spending bill.
The Pentagon had initially requested congressional approval for $953.5 million total to finance the Navy and its submarine work. The Courtney amendments would bring that new total to $972.5 million for such work.
However those funding line items are hamstrung by another amendment in the House bill that limits any expenditure of federal funds for the sea service’s newest submarine, the SSBN(X). Introduced by panel Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and adopted by the full committee, McKeon’s amendment limits the Pentagon’s ability to finance work on the Navy’s new submarine until military officials explain why the number of ballistic missile launchers on the new sub was reduced.
The legislative language, if adopted into the final version of the bill signed by the White House, would limit funding for the sea service’s SSBN(X) program “to not more than 90 percent” of the total appropriations, pending a report to lawmakers on the decision to drop the number of launchers from 24 to 16 (Defense Daily, May 11).
Aside from funding the Navy’s submarine development efforts, panel members also boosted the service’s antisubmarine warfare (ASW) portfolio, approving an $11.5 million increase in the committee’s defense bill.
The bulk of those dollars will go toward the Navy’s work in developing countermeasures for shallow water mines. Proposed by the panel’s raking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the committee add-on boosts the Navy’s accounts for shallow water mine countermeasures up to just over $9 million.
The remaining $3.5 million, inserted by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) will be for surface-based antisubmarine warfare capabilities. If approved in the final version of the FY ’12 defense bill, that amendment would increase service ASW accounts to $33.2 million in the upcoming fiscal year.