The House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces subcommittee plans to allocate money for the construction of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines under the U.S. Navy’s Ohio Replacement Program, DoD Buzz reported Monday.
Kris Osborn writes the program could be funded through the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, a special military account established by the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) told Military.com that his group will propose the allocation during a 2016 defense bill markup.
“This year you will see us actually putting dollars in there and increasing the opportunity for the department to put additional dollars in there down the road,” Forbes added.
The National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund was created for the Navy to have an undersea nuclear deterrence budget that is separate from the branch’s original shipbuilding fund, according to DoD Buzz.
The military service aims to build up to 12 Ohio Replacement submarines and estimates the underwater vehicles will cost $4.9 billion each.
