WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum to fix critical long-term issues in U.S. Navy shipbuilding and ship repair programs and restore capacity and competition to the maritime industrial base.
The Memorandum directs the Secretary of War to establish a fifth Naval shipyard, the first in more than 80 years, to increase the Nation's submarine and aircraft carrier repair capacity.
The Memorandum directs the Secretary of War to establish a Component Repair Center capable of holding, repairing, and refurbishing critical components for all current major submarine programs.
The Secretary of War has also been directed to replace the Advanced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with traditional steam and hydraulic systems during the construction of CVN-81.
As per the Memorandum, the Department of War will pursue more direct investments in the American shipbuilding industrial base based on the successful 'Finland model,' which was first employed with the Coast Guard's medium icebreaker program.
As foreign shipbuilders make substantial and durable investments into America's shipyards and train an all-American workforce for the jobs they create, they will be temporarily permitted to build up to two ships in their parent shipyards that will be delivered to bridge gaps on a quick turnaround, while additional ships will be built in revitalized American shipyards.
The Secretary of War will undertake a full review, reform, and reorganization of Naval Sea Systems Command to address chronic challenges in American naval shipbuilding.
The Trump administaton's measures to expand commercial shipbuilding capacity comes as the U.S. Navy experienced several shipbuilding setbacks stemming from overly complex designs and iterative design change procedures, which have resulted in cost growth, delays, and cancellations.
A lack of capacity and competition has resulted in large backlogs of orders across six major Navy shipbuilding programs and a commercial shipbuilding sector that is not globally competitive, according to the White House.
An atrophied shipbuilding industrial base, coupled with diminished adjacent supplier bases, has expanded delays and increased costs.
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