The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday approved a set of amendments to the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill with a provision that the Navy must have 100 percent ship design completion on the first in a new class before construction starts.
The provision, proposed by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee, was part of an en block set of amendments first approved by the subcommittee and then by the full committee by a voice vote on May 23. It also requires congressional certification before the first ship can start construction.
“It requires 100 percent design completion before starting construction on the first ship of a shipbuilding program, ensuring we build our ships right the first time and avoid costly errors,” Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) said on Wednesday.
This new provision builds on the Seapower subcommittee’s markup of its section of the authorization bill, which already included a section that would amend the U.S. code to improve the analysis and assessment of decisions made before construction on the first ship in a shipbuilding program.
The previously approved language requires the Navy to certify to the congressional defense committees that detail design will be completed for each block of the ship’s construction and the Navy has to explain to lawmakers its plan to oversee and document the completion of the detail design for each block of a ship’s construction before construction on the block begin.
These moves come after a 45-day shipbuilding review directed by the Secretary of the Navy found several high profile programs are running late, with at least one having delays to design completion (Defense Daily, April 3).
The review particularly found the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) is 12 to 16 months behind schedule, Virginia-class Block IV nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) is about 36 months late, the Block V boat is about two years late and the Constellation-class frigate is three years late.
While frigate shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine has been dealing with significant workforce problems, ship design has also been stuck at 80 percent completion for over a year.
Last month Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said the Navy sent over 50 designers from Naval Sea Systems Command to the shipyard in Marinette, Wis., help the shipbuilder finish the design.
Given the significant delays to the new frigate, the HASC NDAA redirects $1 billion the Navy cannot use for full construction of the USS Constellation to help fund work on a second Y ‘25 Virginia-class attack submarine, after the Navy reduced the submarine request by one due to delays and budget caps (Defense Daily, May 13).
Separately, another provision in the en block set of Seapower subcommittee amendments, proposed by subcommittee chairman Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), gives the Navy Secretary authority to enter into contracts for advance procurement across programs associated with ships already authorized to enter into contract.
This measure is aimed at allowing the Navy to start advance procurement for amphibious ship programs already approved by Congress.