THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120481
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
The Pentagon may try to push back the timetable for the Navy's new attack-submarine program, delaying construction of a new sub at Newport News Shipbuilding until 2000, a key legislator warned Thursday.
The one-year delay under consideration could jeopardize the Peninsula shipyard's ability ``to maintain critical design and construction skills,'' Virginia Sen. John W. Warner said in a letter to Defense Secretary William J. Perry.
In an interview, Warner said that Perry agreed to his request to reconsider a Defense Department staff suggestion for a delay in the program. He said Perry, in the midst of long-range budget planning, described 1999 as ``a crunch year'' for the Pentagon, and was looking for ways to save money.
Also pressing Perry to reconsider was Rep. Herbert H. Bateman, a Newport News Republican who with Warner played a key role last year in brokering a deal to divide the first ships in the new sub program between the Peninsula yard and Electric Boat of Groton, Conn.
Under that agreement, the first and third ships in the new line are to go to Electric Boat in 1998 and 2000, the second and fourth to Newport News in 1999 and 2001.
The deal stipulates that after the first four sub contracts are awarded, the two yards are to compete for subsequent ships. Jerri F. Dickseski, a Newport News spokeswoman, on Thursday called talk of a delay ``very distressing'' and said any postponement of the contract for the second ship ``could damage our ability to compete'' for later boats.
The Navy expects to build a total of about 30 of the new subs, each of which will cost about $1.5 billion.
Though Perry and Navy Secretary John H. Dalton agreed to the arrangement, its fate has been uncertain since President Clinton's veto last month of the 1996 Defense Authorization Bill. Clinton rejected that bill, which sets policies for defense spending, principally because of a dispute with Republicans over provisions on deployment of a missile defense system.
Warner said he learned early Thursday of the possible delay on the second boat and arranged to meet with Perry.
The 1996 defense budget, passed last fall, includes $100 million for Newport News to begin preliminary design work on the second boat in the new line. The budget provides $700 million for Electric Boat's design work on the first ship.
Newport News is close to completing work on its last submarine, the Cheyenne, a Los Angeles class ship. by CNB