Senator Collins Questions Navy Officials on Arleigh Burke Destroyer Contract, PNSY Dry Dock Expansion
Arleigh Burke Q&A: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download
PNSY Dry Dock One Q&A: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request for the Navy, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on the timing for awarding a third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, for which she secured funding in the FY 2025 funding bill. Senator Collins also pressed Admiral James Kilby, Acting Chief of Naval Operations, on the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) and the progress made on the expansion of Dry Dock One at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), which is critical for Virginia-class submarine maintenance.
During the hearing, Senator Collins reiterated her strong opposition to the Administration’s reliance on reconciliation funding for shipbuilding, particularly at a time when China’s naval fleet is growing at a pace that far exceeds that of the United States.
Q&A on Arleigh Burke Destroyer:
Senator Collins:
Let me begin by thanking you for visiting the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Bath Iron Works in the State of Maine, as you are touring various shipyards, not only in the United States, but also overseas. I think that's a very effective approach.
I want to echo the concerns that the Chairman raised about relying on reconciliation for shipbuilding. Reconciliation was always meant to be just a one-time funding surge. It has a long tail to it. Yet, even when taken together, the Administration's budget request combined with reconciliation funding would keep us on the prior Administration's completely inadequate trajectory in terms of shipbuilding, at a time when China has nearly 400 ships, and our U.S. Navy has only 293 ships. So, I would hope that the Administration would take a hard look at increasing the base budget to meet the realities of today's global threats and also inflation.
In that regard, I worked hard to secure funding in the Fiscal Year 2025 Continuing Resolution (CR) for a third Arleigh Burke option ship to meet operational requirements and to help sustain the shipbuilding workforce and industrial base. I remain concerned about the timing for this award. Can you provide us with an update on when the Navy intends to execute the third option?
Secretary Phelan:
Thank you, Senator. Appreciate the question, I know it’s a very important one to you. We are in the midst of analyzing the entire force posture and our manned-unmanned balance, and what that should look like and how it should work going forward.
Obviously, my visit to Bath Iron Works and Portsmouth was very informative. There's been a lot of great changes at Portsmouth in particular that I've seen that I'm hoping to apply to some of the other public shipyards as well that will help increase the efficiency there.
As it relates to the third DDG, we're in the kind of final innings of getting to that, and trying to sort through that, and really looking at the whole fleet posture… I think, as I said before, the nature of warfare is changing very rapidly, and I think how it's going to be fought out in the oceans is going to be very different, and we need to be really thinking about that and understanding that, and understanding how they'll work collaboratively. So, I look forward to coming back to you soon with that and coming back to you.
Senator Collins:
There's no doubt that the nature of warfare has changed dramatically, but I think that those who at one time doubted the worth of the surface Navy have been proven wrong. One has only to look at the role that our destroyers have played in shooting down the Houthi missiles and keeping the shipping lanes open in the Red Sea to see just how essential not only our submarines are, but our surface Navy.
Q&A on PNSY Dry Dock One:
Senator Collins:
Admiral Kilby, the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, known as SIOP, is crucial to the Navy's comprehensive multi-decade initiative to modernize and recapitalize the nation's four public shipyards to support current and future nuclear power warship maintenance. The expansion of Dry Dock One at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is essential for Virginia-class submarine maintenance.
Is the Navy on track to meeting its operational availability date, so that we can deal with the backlog of maintenance?
Admiral Kilby:
Yes, ma'am, I believe we are. I appreciate the work that is being done there. You know, my analogy is, it's like pulling into a Jiffy Lube where you're ripping out bays one and three and you're working on cars in bay two, and that's what that shipyard and all our shipyards are doing every day. So, I'm committed to that, ma'am.
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Senator Collins secured $401 million for a Shipbuilding Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) project at PNSY in 2025, which will help to expand the Shipyard’s capacity to maintain America’s fast-attack submarine fleet.
In April, Senator Collins visited PNSY with Secretary Phelan, marking the Secretary’s first visit to a public shipyard since his confirmation.
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