The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed a defense appropriations bill that adds another Arleigh Burke destroyer to the 10 originally expected to be awarded to Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Industries later this summer in a multiyear procurement.
The committee voted 30-1, with Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, opposed.
The bill includes $250 million in advanced procurement funds for an additional destroyer in 2020, according to a release from Sen. Susan Collins. The ship would require full funding before it is built.
The Department of Defense will award the next multiyear procurement of ships — for fiscal years 2018-2022 — this summer. At that time, the two shipyards will learn how many of the now 11 destroyers each will build during the next four years.
The plan includes two ships per year, with option ships in each year to allow the Navy to procure three additional ships, in fiscal years 2019, 2021 and 2022, Colleen O’Rourke, spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command, wrote in a May 29 email to the Bangor Daily News.
O’Rourke confirmed that the multiyear procurement is expected to be awarded this summer.
BIW initially came up short when the last multiyear procurement was announced in 2013, landing contracts to build four Arleigh Burkes to Ingalls’ five. But in 2014 the Department of Defense awarded the Maine shipyard a contract for a fifth ship.
The overall fiscal year 2019 Defense Appropriations Bill includes $675 billion for the military, an increase of $20.4 billion over last year, with $24 billion for Navy shipbuilding.
The defense funding bill must now move to the full Senate for consideration. The House and Senate would then have to work out differences between their versions. The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, in the House, Maine U.S. Reps. Bruce Poliquin and Chellie Pingree took credit for helping thwart an amendment that they said could have harmed BIW’s ability to keep building Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
For a roundup of Maine political news, click here for the Daily Brief. Click here to get Maine’s only newsletter on state politics via email on weekday mornings.
Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.