WASHINGTON, DC - During a Senate Armed Services Committee nomination hearing today, Senator Susan Collins asked the nominee to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Dr. Dolores M. Etter, about the Navy's acquisition plans for shipbuilding. In particular, Senator Collins addressed the need for the Navy to permanently abandon its "one-shipyard" acquisition strategy for the DD(X) destroyer, provide increases and stability in the shipbuilding budget, and revisit the traditional method of shipbuilding funding in order to better meet national security requirements and help our nation's shipbuilders, including Bath Iron Works.
"The shipbuilding budget falls far short of stated Navy requirements, and I am particularly concerned about the decreased production of the DD(X) destroyer. The DD(X) program is critical to our shipbuilding industrial base and our future national security," Senator Collins said. "It is essential that we proceed with the DD(X) program. BIW plays an important role in both our national security and the economy in Maine, and this program will allow BIW''s workers to sustain a more stable workload." ###