Cutter down: Navy ships gain

One day after President Trump announced it planned to cut from the budget a $640M Coast Guard cutter project set to be built in Pascagoula, Miss., U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) released a list of 10 ships included in the Pentagon appropriations bill. Cochran chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Associated Press reported March 1 that documents from the Office of Management and Budget indicated the cutter contract for Ingalls Shipbuilding would be deleted. The Senate appropriates bill would include $1.8B for the 13th San Antonio-class LPD amphibious warship and $1.6B for an LHA-8 amphibious assault ship – both to be built at Pascagoula - and $3.6B for the construction of three DDG-51 destroyers, one of which would be built at Ingalls. The overall bill would provide $21.2B for Navy shipbuilding programs, according to a Cochran media release. The bill also calls for three Littoral Combat Ships – one of which would be build at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. The House could take up the defense funding measure this week, with Senate consideration to follow, according to Cochran’s office. The Defense Department is currently funded through a Continuing Resolution that will expire April 28. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald 03/02/17)