The initial mark of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee’s portion of the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill would give the Navy authority to award multi-year procurement contracts for up to 13 attack submarines and 550 MK-48 torpedoes.
The bill draft specifically gives the Secretary of the Navy authority to use multi-year procurement contracts for up to 13 Block IV Virginia-class attack submarines as well as up to six
Auxiliary Personnel Lighters, berthing barges that house crewmembers while their ships are in port or undergoing drydock maintenance.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), ranking member of the seapower and projection forces subcommittee, praised the initial mark’s submarine contracting authority as a way to demonstrate meeting fleet requirements and supporting the AUKUS agreement to help Australia field nuclear-powered attack submarines.
“By authorizing multiyear procurement authority for 13 Virginia-class submarines, the subcommittee’s bipartisan mark ensures the Navy has the authority to exceed the two-per-year build cadence for Virginia-class submarines—demonstrating Congress’ commitment to meeting the Navy’s fleet requirements while supporting the AUKUS agreement.”
Under the AUKUS agreement, before Australia builds its own submarines, dubbed SSN-AUKUS, it plans to buy at least three and up to five Virginia-class submarines from the U.S. Australia intends to procure a combination of used U.S. Navy vessels and new boats built directly for them. Australian officials have said they intend to invest $3 billion directly into the U.S. submarine industrial base in addition to procuring the submarines.
The American submarine industrial base is currently struggling to even reach the two attack submarines per year rate that the U.S. Navy is ordering them at, let alone adding the Australian needs in the coming years.
“Importantly, this provision sends a robust demand signal to the submarine industrial base which, in the last year, has been making great strides to recover a two-per-year build rate after the pandemic‘s disruption. This authority—combined with recent congressional investment in the workforce and supply chain—will accelerate that positive trajectory,” Courtney said.
Last week, Courtney and two other House Democrats introduced legislation that aims to enact legislative proposals submitted by the Defense Department in May that allows the Navy to sell up to two submarines directly to Australia and accept Australian funds to shore up the submarine industrial base (Defense Daily, June 9).
The mark also includes authority on multi-year procurement of up to 550 MK-48 torpedoes, which would be in addition to those under current torpedo contracts.
The MK-48 Mod 7 heavyweight torpedo is the current primary submarine-launched anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare weapon used by the Navy. It consists of an acoustic-homing torpedo with a digital guidance system that can be repeatedly upgraded. The current Mod-7 variant comes from a joint development program with the Royal Australian Navy, first reaching initial operational capability in 2006.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the primary contract for the MK-48 Mod 7.
In April, Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC] announced it won a $102.5 million contract from the Navy to continue supporting production on the MK 48 Mod 7 program. The original contract said if all options were exercised the overall award could raise the value to $1.1 billion total.