Lawmaker wants key submarine document

Lawmaker wants key submarine document
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Apr 23, 2010 10:57:52 EDT

A key congressman who oversees Navy programs on Capitol Hill is threatening to recommend against funding development of a new ballistic missile submarine if the service doesn’t fork over its analysis of the program.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., chairman of the House Seapower subcommittee, complained in a letter sent Thursday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the Navy “refuses to share” the analysis of alternatives (AoA) for the SSBN(X) program — a document that, Taylor says in the letter, was completed last year.

Rather than commit to replacing the current crop of large Ohio-class submarines armed with Trident II D5 ballistic missiles with similar ships, Taylor wants to see what a smaller, Virginia-class submarine armed with a less-lethal ballistic missile would cost. Instead, he says, the Navy already has decided it wants the bigger and more expensive ships — which some sources say could cost as much as $70 billion.

~snip~

The Navy’s refusal to share the AoA with Congress, Taylor said, “is under the guise that final approval has not been obtained.”

Yet, he pointed out, $495 million was spent last year to develop a missile compartment “that would only support a Trident II D5 weapon” — and the Navy is asking for an additional $672 million this year “to continue development of an exclusive Trident replacement vessel.”



unhappycamper comment: We buy two (count 'em, two) Virginia class subs each and every year for $2.8 billion dollars. IMHO, $70 billion is just a tad too much for a friggin boat. :sarcasm:

We can't afford an unlimited Pentagon budget. We need to start cutting it now, forcing those generals and admirals to think about things and start making more rational choices.