WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- A senior congressman has urged the U.S. Navy to reform its strategy for building new nuclear submarines.
"I am somewhat disappointed to see that the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for Fiscal Year 2008, as well as the president's budget request for Fiscal Year 2008, were submitted to Congress without any changes to the procurement strategy for attack submarines," Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., the ranking Republican on the of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing Thursday.
"Last year, we held a hearing very similar to today's to explore the same three issues," Bartlett said. They were, he said, "Why does the shipbuilding plan fail to provide a sufficient number of submarines to meet the Navy's own requirements?
"Has the Navy and industry exhaustively analyzed all alternative funding strategies to minimize submarine construction costs, in order to address the requirements shortfall sooner?
"What measures are the Navy and industry taking to ensure we retain the submarine design base, which is nothing short of a national asset?"
"After considering the testimony we received, we included language in last year's National Defense Authorization Act, which would require the Navy to maintain no less than 48 operational attack submarines," Bartlett said.
The requirement language, he said, was later softened "to give the Navy an opportunity to re-examine the operational impact associated with delaying the increase in attack submarine construction until 2012 and possible funding alternatives."
However, "Since no new course of action has been presented with the budget request, I hope we will be provided with some new perspectives this year, which might allay some of our concerns," Bartlett said.
