General Dynamics To Build Extra Submarine Thanks To Congress

(MoneyWatch)  As part of both the House's and Senate's versions of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill the U.S. Navy will get a Virginia (SSN-774) class attack submarine earlier then planned. Congress maintained the funding to deliver two submarines in 2011 despite Navy requests to slow down production. This will be a boon to General Dynamics as it keeps the planned expansion of production on track.

Under the original plan the Navy was receiving one vessel a year through 2010 and then go to two a year in 2011. Due to budget decisions the Navy did not ask for the necessary funding in 2010 to support the expansion of production to two. The Rhode Island Congressional delegation lobbied for this and both bills working their way to Conference contained the money to keep the program on track.

Large ship and aircraft programs usually receive funding called "Advanced Procurement" a year in advance to fund the necessary long lead items to build the next year's deliveries. In this case Congress is maintaining those funds in 2010. This would be the twelfth ship of this class and is currently planned to be named the USS John Warner after the former Virginia Senator and Navy Secretary.

Congress always has found it easy to add procurement funds to the budget as buying hardware is always more visible and allows brags of adding jobs to a plant. Unfortunately if the Navy does not plan appropriately for the necessary funds to operate this ship after it enters service their may be shortfalls elsewhere in the budget. There are costs associated with personnel, maintenance and in most cases fuel for a system to be able to conduct its mission. In this case gasoline is not a real issue as it is nuclear powered but there are costs associated with that through out the life of the submarine.

In this case Congress is just sticking to the original plan and there is a requirement for the ship unlike in the situation with the C-17 where technically the Air Force has reached its inventory objective. That does not mean the C-17 added by Congress over the last few years cannot be used or of benefit just that Air Force plans do not require them.

This is one of the biggest "earmarks" in the budget but does not really fall under the traditional definition of that budget item. Many times earmarks include things that are not required or wanted by the services and fall outside of their plans and programs. The Navy certainly wants and can use the USS John Warner.