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House, Senate agree to add third DDG 1000

House and Senate defense lawmakers have agreed to fund the Navy’s third Zumwalt-class destroyer, according to an announcement late Tuesday, even as questions remained over how much the ship will finally cost and what capabilities it will have.

The national defense authorization bill, which seemed likely to pass both chambers and could go to President Bush as soon as this weekend, sets aside $2.5 billion for the ship known as DDG 1002, albeit “without prejudice to a Navy initiative for a possible return to DDG 51 production,” according to an announcement from House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat. The bill also authorizes $350 million for either advance procurement or major-system spares for the older-design Arleigh Burke destroyer class.

The shipbuilding portion of the bill is a victory for New England lawmakers, whose home states have billions of dollars and thousands of jobs depending on the Zumwalt class — the first and third ships are to be built in Maine’s Bath Iron Works shipyard, and their radars, combat systems and missiles are built by the Massachusetts-based defense giant Raytheon.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a key champion of the DDG 1000 program, praised the return of the third ship when the Senate version of the bill passed last week.

“The Senate has again recognized the valuable contributions of Maine companies to our national security by funding important defense programs in our state,” she said in an announcement. Collins is running for reelection this year against Maine Democratic Rep. Tom Allen.

Collins had worried that a gap in work for Bath would mean the General Dynamics-owned shipyard, the largest private employer in Maine, would have to lay off skilled workers. Navy Secretary Donald Winter told Navy Times that maintaining the U.S. industrial base was the central factor in the Navy’s decision to support a surface warship in this year’s funding cycle.

The Navy remains confident that it can build the third ship for $2.5 billion, although one of the ship’s top House critics, Rep. Gene Taylor, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Seapower Subcommittee, remains skeptical. Taylor told Navy Times Wednesday he still doesn’t believe the Navy can build the ships for their officially listed costs. The Navy expects the first two lead ships to cost around $3.2 billion, but Taylor has cited congressional reports that predict the cost could be closer to $5 billion per copy.

Initially Taylor’s subcommittee, and the larger House, deleted the money for DDG 1002 because he favored building older DDG 51-class ships instead. But he said Wednesday he was satisfied by larger compromises with the Senate and the Navy, including an acknowledgement in the bill that Navy Secretary Donald Winter had the discretion to use the $2.5 billion set aside for DDG 1002 to built DDG 51s, if he chose, in addition to the money dedicated specifically to Burkes.

Taylor cited other points he considered victories, including a provision in the bill that requires the Navy’s next generation of amphibious assault ships to be nuclear-powered, as well as the larger new consensus in the Navy and Congress about building more DDG 51s starting next year.

“I think the world has shifted very much and accepted the fact that we’re better off building 51s,” Taylor said. “That is a huge shift from where the Navy was in January, and I really do think, having given a great deal of thought to this, it is a shift in the right direction.”

Taylor said that he has not gotten any more details from the Navy about exactly what capabilities the DDG 1000 has. His committee heard testimony in July from two top acquisitions officials who said the DDG 1000 couldn’t perform area air defense because the ships couldn’t guide Raytheon-built SM-2 or SM-6 surface-to-air missiles to their targets. Raytheon company officials disputed that, telling Navy Times that the ship had been designed with that capability all along. Taylor said Wednesday he still didn’t know what the ship could do.

Other shipbuilding details in the compromise bill included $920 million for two littoral combat ships — which eliminates a ship Congress authorized last year, taking away the Navy’s ability to issue contracts for a total of three more. Lawmakers “remain concerned that the Navy has not taken sufficient actions to control costs for follow-on vessels,” according to a joint House and Senate statement. As such, the bill announced Tuesday requires the Navy to submit a long-term acquisition strategy for LCS with next year’s budget request, and delays the $460 million cost cap for each ship until next year.

The bill also:

• Includes $600 million for advance procurement on two San Antonio-class amphibious transport ships — one more than the Navy had asked for

• Authorizes one Virginia-class submarine, adds $300 million to advance procurement for another, and authorizes the Navy to begin building two a year.

• Authorizes two Lewis and Clark-class T-AKE cargo ships

• Authorizes two Joint High Speed Vessels for the Navy and the Army.