Under Secretary of Defense, John J. Young Jr. has sent a letter to Senator Susan Collins outlining the estimated costs of restarting the DDG-51 versus continuing the DDG-1000 program. Secretary Young wrote that funding in the current budget would not provide sufficient dollars for the Navy to procure two additional DDG-51 ships, the number that Bath Iron Works would need to maintain its current workforce level. He also said that it is not correct, based on “lost production sources” to assume a problem-free restart of the DDG-51 program. He confirmed that the number of workers required to complete a DDG-1000 is about 2.5 times that of the DDG-51 program.
In his letter, the Under Secretary of Defense wrote the following:
“It is important to recognize the following about [the DDG-1000 and DDG-51] cost estimates:
• There would not be sufficient funding to procure two additional DDG-51 ships in FY 2009 at a cost of less than or equal to one DDG-1000 ship.
• These estimates assume a smooth, problem-free restart of DDG 51 production and the Defense Department already has indications that a smooth restart may not be possible because of lost production sources or production experience.
• A single DDG 51 ship in FY 2009, with no other DDG 51 ships to follow, would not support the current surface combatant industrial base, unless DDG-1000 production is continued consistent with the current Program of Record.
• Direct production hours for one DDG 1000 ship are about 2.5 times that of one additional DDG 51 ship. This validates DoD’s experience that two or three DDG-51 destroyers need to be purchased annually to maintain the two yard surface combatant industrial base.
• The Navy estimates that an additional $2.6-4.3 billion will be required to end DDG 1000 production at two ships.
• The RDT& E efforts for the DDG-1000 program must continue in order to deliver two complete ships and to support the Dual Band Radar for the CVN 21 program.”