THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996               TAG: 9603300270
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

NAVY FORESEES NEW SUB AS STEALTHY AS ANY IN WORLD THE DESIGN WILL BE REFINED AS RIVAL YARDS BUILD NEW SUB LINE.

A senior Navy officer tried to convince skeptical lawmakers Friday that the Navy is committed to changes and experimentation to improve the initial design of a new class of attack submarines.

John W. Douglass, an assistant Navy secretary in charge of weapons acquisition, told a House subcommittee that a ``baseline'' design developed at Electric Boat of Groton, Conn., will produce a sub as stealthy as any in the world.

The design will be refined at Electric Boat and at Newport News Shipbuilding as the rival shipyards build the first subs in the new line, he promised.

But Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who convened the hearing, said he is worried that the Navy is not sufficiently committed to developing and experimenting with new sub technologies and then incorporating them into the design.

``If we make it clear that we've `fixed' this design with the first boat, there will be a cultural imperative in the Navy'' not to alter it, Hunter said.

A.R. Battista, a consultant to the subcommittee, said the Navy needs to take a closer look at hydrodynamic technologies that could make the new sub faster and harder to detect.

Hunter helped craft legislation last year designed to encourage Electric Boat and Newport News to experiment with design innovations as they build the first four ships in the new sub class.

Under that plan, Electric Boat will build the first and third subs, beginning in 1998 and 2000, respectively, with Newport News getting contracts in 1999 and 2001.

The yards have agreed to share their design knowledge. Douglass said the Navy intends to give sub designers at each yard enough flexibility to permit substantial changes to the baseline ship if their designs appear to hold promise for producing a quieter or faster sub.

Douglass reiterated the Navy's support for the construction schedule Congress approved last year but said the Navy couldn't afford to meet that timetable within the budget set by the Pentagon's top leaders. A report the Defense Department submitted this week says Congress will need to come up with almost $4 billion in additional sub funds by 2001 to keep the program on track.

An additional $500 million is needed in the 1997 budget under consideration in Congress to permit Newport News to acquire a nuclear reactor and other ``long-lead'' items for the 1999 sub.

KEYWORDS: SUBMARINE U.S. NAVY by CNB