THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300275
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
With Congressional Republicans and the White House finally in agreement on the program's timing, the Navy on Monday announced the award of a $1.47 billion contract for design and other preliminary work on the first in a new generation of attack submarines.
The contract to Electric Boat of Groton, Conn., is the first in a series that will divide work on the initial four subs in the new class between the Connecticut yard and Newport News Shipbuilding. Actual construction of the first sub, at Electric Boat, is to begin in 1998 and to be completed by 2004.
Newport News is expected to get a $110 million award within a few weeks to begin development of the second sub in the line. Construction of that sub is to begin in 1999, though Defense Secretary William Perry has raised the possibility that he will seek a delay in the schedule.
Electric Boat and Newport News waged expensive, high-profile lobbying campaigns for the sub work last spring before agreeing to a compromise fashioned by Virginia and New England lawmakers.
Under the deal, which President Clinton is expected to sign into law this week, Electric Boat will build the first and third subs in the new line while Newport News gets the second and fourth subs. Then, beginning in 2002, the two yards will compete for contracts.
The Navy wants to build about 30 of the subs, at a cost of about $1.5 billion each. The first subs in the line will be considerably more expensive however, owing to extra expenses associated with the design of a new sub.
The subs are to replace the oldest of the Los Angeles class attack submarines that are the mainstays of the Navy's undersea fleet. They will be smaller and cheaper than the Seawolf subs the Navy originally planned for that role; Congress is terminating the Seawolf line after just three ships because it judged their $2.5 billion-plus price tag too high. by CNB