Christmas for Bath Iron Works as Navy changes plans

Times Record - Navy's switch on shipbuilding plans could be very good for Bath shipyard. After calling for an abrupt end of its new destroyer program less than a month ago, the Navy will seek funding after all for another DDG-1000 — a move that could trigger billions in contract dollars for Bath Iron Works.

"I think the Navy took a closer look at its production plan and realized it would have created a serious gap in work for Bath Iron Works, a gap the new plan avoids," U.S. Sen. Susan Collins told The Times Record on Monday night. "This is a win-win all the way around for Bath Iron Works and the Navy."

Two DDG-1000s are already under construction; the first of which represents the most lucrative single ship contract in BIW history. The other is being built at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Pasca-goula, Miss.-based Ingalls Operations.

But the program took heat on Capitol Hill, where opponents, including Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., argued that the expensive destroyers could cannibalize other programs in the Navy shipbuilding budget. In May, Taylor and others on the House Armed Services Committee voted to deny the Navy's $2.6 billion request in the fiscal year 2009 budget to fund the third DDG-1000, which was slated to be built at BIW.
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