BATH

The Senate passed this year’s National Defense Authorization Act that includes provisions that could benefit for Bath Iron Works and other Maine-connected entities, 85-10.

Passage of the bill was announced Tuesday by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee

According to King, the bill authorizes $5.2 billion for the procurement of three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in fiscal year 2019 that BIW can compete to build, and $642 million to fund future year Arleigh Burke procurements.

The bill also includes $271 million for the continued production of the advanced Zumwalt-class destroyers. All Zumwalt-class vessels are being built at BIW; the third and final ship of its class, the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is under construction at the shipyard.

The defenses bill also authorizes:

 $161.2 million for infrastructure modernizations at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery;

 $310.4 million for the Bradley Program that could support General Dynamics’ manufacturing facility in Saco;

 $1.27 billion to procure eight CH-53K helicopters, the rotor shaft of which are manufactured at Hunting Dearborn in Fryeburg;

 $192.6 million for the Improved Turbine Engine Program, which may benefit Honeywell in Westbrook and Pratt and Whitney in North Berwick.

“The programs authorized in this year’s NDAA will make important contributions to our national defense — just as the bill’s namesake, Senator John McCain, has done,” King said in a written statement. “This overwhelmingly bipartisan vote reflects the importance of ensuring our military has the tools it needs to protect our citizens, and the inclusion of so many Maine-based projects in this legislation reflects just how important our state is to America’s national security. This year’s NDAA will support good Maine jobs and make Americans safer … .”

The Senate version of the bill will go through a process to reconcile it with a House version, before the president signs it into law.

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