Golden Questions Navy on New Multiyear Procurement Contract for Destroyers Built at BIW

Statement

In a hearing this week before the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) urged Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday to provide consistency regarding the Navy's production goals for the DDG-51 and questioned whether their proposed procurement strategy would produce a shipbuilding workforce capable of meeting the Navy's needs as it continues to build DDG-51 ships and eventually transition to the next-generation DDG(X) destroyer.

The administration has proposed a new multiyear procurement contract for construction of 9 to 10 ships over the next several years before eventually transitioning to DDG(X). That plan does not provide for a sufficient number of ships to maintain the shipbuilding industrial base. Golden has consistently pushed the administration to set more aggressive goals for DDG-51 production, in part to ensure the workforce is prepared to start building the DDG(X).

"It's critical for our national security that these yards make this investment in the workforce that will build the DDG(X). My opinion is that these yards need to see a positive signal from Congress and the Navy and a 10 ship multiyear with a five ship option demonstrates stability at one ship a year while greenlighting an effort to get to that 1.5 ships a year over time," said Golden.

Bath Iron Works (BIW) is one of two shipyards that build the DDG-51 destroyers. Earlier last month, Admiral Gilday joined Golden and Senator Susan Collins at BIW on a tour to showcase the skill and dedication of the shipbuilders there and the importance to our national security of maintaining the defense industrial base.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee and vice chair of the panel's Seapower Subcommittee, Golden has consistently gone to bat for the shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works. Last year, Golden and the rest of the Maine congressional delegation worked to sound the alarm and fought back against cuts to DDG-51 shipbuilding proposed by the Biden Administration. Thanks in part to consistentadvocacyfrom Golden, the cuts were reversed in a bill signed into law this March.

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