The chairman’s mark of the House Appropriations Committee’s (HAC) fiscal 2027 defense appropriations bill funds the administration’s $1 billion request for the BBG(X) Trump-class battleship, but adds restrictions.
The proposed restrictions would require a certification from the Navy Secretary on combat system maturity as well as reports seeking key details about ship development.
During the committee’s markup last week, the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) that sought to cut the $1 billion in battleship advanced procurement funding.
During a hearing of the HAC defense subcommittee last month, McCollum argued the panel needed to know the battleship’s design characteristics and was skeptical of Congress’s ability to afford the ships in light of other shipbuilding programs with cost overruns. She was joined in those concerns by subcommittee chairman Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), who said he was wary of wasting money on a platform that might ultimately be canceled.
However, Calvert voted against her amendment.
The Navy has said it plans to buy the lead battleship in fiscal 2028 and expects it to cost $17 billion total, but a Congressional Budget Office estimate argued that could rise to over $20 billion.
A similar amendment to cut the battleship funding was defeated in the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) fiscal ‘27 defense bill markup, but HASC did include a provision requiring a report from the Navy Secretary on the strategy to design and build the ship without interfering with existing nuclear-powered shipbuilding plans.
The Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan released in May revealed the service ultimately decided the battleship would be nuclear-powered, using the reactor used in the Ford-class aircraft carriers.
House appropriators did include a bill provision restricting the Pentagon from entering into a contract or other agreement for construction of the lead battleship until the Navy Secretary certifies to the congressional defense committees that the weapon systems for the lead ship are at a “sufficiently mature technology readiness level.”
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.