WASHINGTON — It’s been quite a month for Bath Iron Works.
The shipyard won a $680 million contract Monday to build a new Arleigh Burke Navy destroyer — and beat out a Mississippi shipyard for the right to build another one, according to Maine lawmakers and the Navy.
The two new DDG-51 destroyers are separate from a contract of up to $2 billion finalized earlier this month between the Navy and General Dynamics-owned BIW to build two more Zumwalt-class destroyers in addition to the one BIW is working on.
The contracts mean years of work for the 5,400-worker shipyard, said GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree of the 1st District and Mike Michaud of the 2nd District.
“This has not been an easy year for workers at BIW, with so much up in the air about contracts and funding,” Pingree, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a written statement. “I hope this gives them some more security in knowing there will be enough work to keep them busy.”
Snowe said in a written statement that “for 127 years, Bath Iron Works has stood out as an irreplaceable national resource, and the Navy’s purchase of these Bath-built Arleigh Burke destroyers in addition to their recent purchase of the (Zumwalt) DDG-1001 and DDG-1002 ships affirms that fact.”
BIW completed two Burke destroyers this summer, and is finishing work on the larger Zumwalt destroyer as well.
The Zumwalt program has been limited to a total of three ships by the Navy, with all of them to be built at BIW.
Some analysts have said that given looming defense-spending cuts, nothing is certain in today’s budget climate. But the Navy says it intends to keep building Burkes for years to come.
The $680 million Burke contract announced Monday had been expected as part of a shipbuilding swap arrangement with the competing Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
But BIW had been competing with the Mississippi shipyard for the right to build the second Burke.
BIW’s combined bid to build both ships won out, with the Navy awarding Bath an option valued at $665 million to build the second Burke.
There is no contract yet for the second Burke because Congress still must allocate that money as part of 2012 spending bills.
However, Collins, a member of the Senate’s armed services and appropriations committees, noted that the Appropriations Committee two weeks ago allotted $1.98 billion to fully fund President Obama’s 2012 request for the DDG-51 Burke destroyer program.
“Once again, this confirms the high degree of confidence the Navy has in Bath Iron Works for delivering the highest-quality ships for our nation’s sailors,” Collins said in a written statement. “This will continue to support the skilled work force at BIW while helping to meet our military requirements around the world.”
MaineToday Media Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind can be contacted at 791-6280 or at: jriskind@mainetoday.com
Twitter: MaineTodayDC
Send questions/comments to the editors.
