NEW MEMO: Ranking Member Courtney Sends Memo to Armed Services Colleagues on Submarine Industrial Base, FY25 Procurement

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ahead of tomorrow's Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee hearing on the Navy's FY25 budget request, Ranking Member Joe Courtney sent a new memo to his colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee detailing the growing momentum in the submarine industrial base and the importance of maintaining a steady Virginia Class submarine procurement rate.

"Ahead of FY25 budget hearings and negotiations, I am writing to provide perspective on the state of the submarine industrial base (SIB) following legitimate concerns raised on the post-COVID impacts on the enterprise and the Navy's proposed decision to cut procurement of one Virginia Class submarine in the FY25 budget as a means to address the backlog.

"Like the rest of U.S. manufacturing, [the submarine industrial base] is experiencing a dynamic recovery, and I am seeing remarkable growth within the submarine industrial base that should not be overlooked. That is why a bipartisan group of members and I strongly support maintaining procurement stability in Navy shipbuilding, rather than cutting procurement which will only exacerbate challenges on our Navy and industrial base," Courtney wroteto his Armed Services colleagues.

Here are a few critical observations:

• Building a Stronger Workforce:The U.S. Navy's lead shipyard for submarine construction - Electric Boat - hired a record number of employees (5,300+) in 2023, retaining 88% of its workforce, and the company is on pace to hire another 5,200 workers in 2024. This is made possible in part by a new, five-year union contract, providing stronger wages for all members, totaling 21.4% increase over the term of the contract. Newport News Shipbuilding also hired 8,300 new workers over 2022 and 2023.
• Training pipelines are excelling: Thousands of new shipyard workers were trained in record time just last year, fueled by strong, federally funded workforce development programs and a dramatic shift toward trade education in conventional high school curricula.
• Shipyard capacity is increasing: Newport News Shipbuilding has invested in four major new building projects to increase efficiency and capacity expansion in support of achieving "1+2" build rate for Virginia Class production and serial production of the Columbia Class program in FY26.
• Production tempo is rising:Workforce growth and increased capacity are a big part of the reason that Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding will deliver three Virginia Class submarines in 2024 to the U.S. Navy.
• Steady procurement is the sure way to keep this momentum growing: The growth we are seeing in the submarine industrial base is because of targeted investments going back to FY18 authorized in the NDAA. These efforts take time to mature, and we need time to continue to realize their success. Inserting procurement instability now will hinder that growth by sending the wrong signal to the SIB.

The Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee willmeet on Wednesday at 3 p.m. to examine the FY25 Department of the Navy budget request.

Read the new memo here.

Read Ranking Member Courtney's statement on the FY25 budget request here.

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