JACKSON, Miss. – Officials have signed off on a plan for the Navy to begin detailed design and procurement for materials to build eight new generation destroyers, according to U.S. Sen. Trent Lott.

Kenneth Kreig, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, signed the document needed to begin production of the Navy’s futuristic surface combatant on Wednesday, said Lott, R-Miss.

The program faces another review before construction actually begins. Lott said it is only a procedural step in which the Navy and Defense Department reconcile cost estimates and establish testing requirements for the ship.

The destroyers, designated the DD(X), once developed, would allow the Navy to strike miles inland or to hit isolated targets in populated coastal areas with precision guided weapons, and offer ground support to troops from the safety of the sea, the Navy has said.

Naval officials also like the prospect that the design of the ship is highly automated, with the need for only a small crew.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine – the nation’s two major builders of war ships – partnered in the design phase of the DD(X), which would replace the Navy’s aging fleet of destroyers.

Both companies had expressed concern over suggestions from some in Washington that the program should be cut to help offset the cost of the war in Iraq. Those opposed to slashing funding for the DD(X) program said it would devastate the country’s shipbuilding capabilities and compromise the military’s ability to remain superior in the future.

It could be years before construction on the first ship is completed, with Bath Iron Works and Northrop Grumman each building one of the first two.

There is no set plan for who will be awarded contracts on the remaining six ships.

“While it would be premature to speculate on any future acquisitional strategy for follow-on DD(X) ships, we will work with our industry partners to have an affordable shipbuilding strategy that will deliver the future of the fleet,” said Lt. Ohene Gyapong, a Navy spokesman.

Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Paige Eaton said the company and the Navy are moving ahead “to take a very mature program into detailed design and a construction schedule.”

“It’s especially a great day for Mississippi and the men and women of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls operations,” Lott said in a statement.

Northrop Grumman’s Mississippi shipyard, the state’s largest private employer, is in Lott’s hometown of Pascagoula.