Kendall Says Full Speed Ahead On Navy Nuke Missile Subs: $125B Columbia Class
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on January 04, 2017 at 9:25 PM
An Ohio-class nuclear missile submarine (SSBN).
An Ohio-class nuclear missile submarine (SSBN). The Cold War-era Ohios are heading into the sunset, to be replaced by the new Columbia class.
WASHINGTON: Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall just approved the Navy’s top-priority program, the Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine, to start detailed design work and engineering. Known in Pentagonese as a Milestone B decision, undersecretary Kendall’s okay lets the Navy spend the $773 million Congress voted for the program in last month’s Continuing Resolution. [CORRECTED:] The projected procurement cost for is $96 billion for 12 submarines; the cost of the whole program, including R&D, is over $125 billion.
Navy photo
Rep. Joe Courtney meets with young submarine officers.
“If we had had a Milestone B announcement today but no money… you would have really sort of an empty event,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, the ranking Democrat on the House seapower subcommittee. “Without that $773 million, we’d still be twiddling our thumbs waiting until March,” when a final 2017 spending bill is expected. But now, with the Milestone B decision and 2017 funding in place, Courtney said, “that money is going to move fast… paying EB [Courtney’s homestate shipyard, Electric Boat] and some of the other vendors.”
http://breakingdefense.com/2017/01/kendall-says-full-speed-ahead-on-navy-nuke-missile-subs-96b-columbia-class/
