For Immediate Release

October 24, 2001

HOUSE PANEL AGREES TO CONVERT FOUR TRIDENT SUBS;
WORK ON AT LEAST TWO WILL BE DONE AT PSNS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When the Bush Administration requested only $116 million in the current fiscal year for the conversion of two of the four retiring Trident ballistic missile submarines into cruise missile platforms, Navy officials stressed to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks that they preferred to convert all four.  Today, the congressman obtained the approval of the House Appropriations Committee to fund all four conversions in a timely manner, and with a substantial cost savings to the government.

         The panel approved a request by Rep. Dicks to add $463 million to the current year defense budget in order to accomplish the engineering and design work necessary for four conversions in succession.  With the approval of all four at the outset, Rep. Dicks said, the overall cost for each sub would likely be 20 percent lower.  The measure must now be approved by the Senate, which earlier this year demonstrated support for converting four of the Tridents when it passed the Defense Authorization Act.

        Work on at least two of the four conversions – and perhaps an additional sub -- will be done at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, he said, adding to the currently projected workload at the yard over the next several years.

        “After discussing the issue with the Navy Secretary and the Chief of Naval Operations this year, it was clear to me that we should ultimately preserve all four of these very capable Ohio-class submarines,” Rep. Dicks said.  “It makes more sense to invest additional funds at this time to accelerate the program and drive the overall cost down,” he said.

        Another major initiative in the defense spending bill approved today that will have implications for the Puget Sound area was the decision to begin purchasing Boeing 767 aircraft for several U.S. Air Force missions, including aerial refueling tankers, the congressman noted.

        He said the panel endorsed the “common wide-body platform” concept, selecting the newer and more efficient Boeing 767 airframe to begin replacing the Air Force’s fleet of 707-based aircraft.  Dicks said that the existing fleet of 100 KC-135E tankers will be replaced with 767s over the next ten years, with the additional possibility of replacing other older KC-135Rs at a later date.  The 767 platform would also be used for the JSTARS and other command and control mission aircraft, he said.

        “With the 707’s averaging more than 40 years of age, we could not delay any longer the critical responsibility of replacing the tanker fleet that allows the United States to project air power worldwide,” Dicks said.

        With Boeing now anticipating deferrals of aircraft orders due to the recent airline industry setbacks, Rep. Dicks said the move will help maintain the Boeing 767 workforce, largely based in the Puget Sound area.  “Clearly this is a win-win situation: the Air Force will get timely replacement of our aerial refueling tankers with a 767 tanker version, and at the same time this effort will add greater stability to the workload at Boeing during this difficult period,” he said.

        The plan also calls for engineering work needed to utilize the 767 platform for the Joint Stars (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) long-range air-to-ground surveillance aircraft and a multi-mission command and control aircraft – both currently using older 707 airframes, he said.

        In addition to the boost to Boeing’s 767 production line, the Appropriations Committee also agreed today to a new “multi-year procurement” of the Boeing C-17 airlifter.  The Committee approved a net increase of $180 million for the non-recurring production costs of additional C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the Air Force’s newest generation of cargo planes that transport equipment, troops and supplies to locations worldwide.  The Air Force had earlier ordered 120 C-17s, and the decision today will begin a follow-on procurement of the planes, at a lower unit cost to the government, Rep. Dicks said.

        The defense bill also includes $85 million for the purchase of a specialized Boeing 737, to be used by the Air Force for aeromedical evacuation.  Rep. Dicks said he is also pursuing additional procurement of these 737s –designated C-40s -- to meet a Navy requirement for 23 additional replacements for older DC-9s currently in the fleet.

        Several other important national defense priorities were addressed in the defense spending bill approved today, he said, including:

• $8.7 million for the second increment of funding for the UUV [Unmanned Undersea Vehicle] Center at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport.
• $2 million to extend the highly-successful Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Apprentice Program to workers at Keyport.
• $7 million to centralize the Navy’s environmental programs work at a Northwest Environmental Center, to be operated by the Concurrent Technologies Corporation in Bremerton.
• An additional $4 million to continue work at Bremerton firm, Dimension Four, converting Navy technical manuals to digital format.
• $5 million for a Special Needs Learning Center for children at Sub Base Bangor who are members of the military’s exceptional family member program.

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