Lawmakers ask for 3 destroyers

Lawmakers from Maine and Mississippi sent a letter to Navy Secretary (SECNAV) Carlos Del Toro urging him to include funding for three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in the president’s Navy budget for FY 2023. The two delegations - Mississippi Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Reps. Steven Palazzo and Trent Kelly alongside Maine Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree - emphasized the importance of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to national security and its impacts to shipbuilding in their states at Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula and Bath (Maine) Iron Works. In the FY-22 defense authorization act there is $4.9B for three destroyers, which BIW and Huntington Ingalls can compete to build. The delegations also asked SECNAV to develop a multi-year contract for 15 Arleigh Burkes to be built over five years to help support the shipbuilding industrial base. Aside from the Arleigh Burkes, the lawmakers urged the Pentagon to complete and submit its acquisition strategy for a new type of destroyer - yet to be named - “based on a collaborative design, development, and production approach between the government and industry,” the letter reads. A strategy tied to the industrial base with extensive oversight would “help prevent the issues of cost increases, program delays, and end-product reliability issues seen in other ship classes.” During a visit to BIW last September, Del Toro said both BIW and HII-Pascagoula are helping the Navy design the new warship, which is expected to succeed Arleigh Burke destroyers. According to a Congressional Research Service report in February, Navy officials anticipate requesting the new ship in 2028. It’s forecasted to be larger than the 9,700-ton Arleigh Burke, but smaller than a 15,700-ton Zumwalt-class destroyer, and with a cost estimated $2.9 B. Arleigh Burke costs about $2B apiece. (Source: Times Record 02/22/22) Maine congressional delegates ask for more Bath-built ships - Portland Press Herald