However lies with
the Gerald R Ford Class of aircraft
carriers. these successors to the venerable
nimitz-class carriers will appear
outwardly similar to their predecessors
and share a similar hull design, but will
incorporate a number of improvements. These improvements include increased
radar functionality, better ship
stability and decreased manning
requirements that will see crew sizes
reduced by up to 20 percent compared to
those on nimitz-class carriers which
along with decreased maintenance
requirements will see lower overall
costs across the vessels service lives.
Additionally the new class of carriers
will come with improved operational
capabilities. Many of these are the result of the ford
class newly designed a B-1 nuclear
reactors which will provide a
significant amount of electrical power. This power will then be used to power
the ford class new electromagnetic
aircraft launch system which is
touted as easier on the aircraft it
launches thereby extending their service
lives and will also improve sortie rates. Similarly the new carriers will make use
of a new recovery system in the form of
its advanced arresting gear, which is
again more reliable and easier on
aircraft than the current system onboard
nimitz class carriers.
The new launch and recovery systems will
allow ford class carriers to make use of
a greater variety of aircraft. Including
potentially unmanned aircraft but the
new carriers will still draw most of
their capability from embarked combat
aircraft. Ford class carriers are envisioned as
making use of several fifth generation F-35C stealth aircraft along with the
ubiquitous FA-18E F-super hornets and
other aircraft that currently make up
carrier air wings. The ford class carriers will also be
equipped with a host of capabilities
designed to improve their survivability
in combat.
An amazing aircraft carrier with a big
price tag while these improvements are
all significant. They have not come
without a cost. The navy's
fy2022 budget proposal estimated the
procurement cost for the lead vessel in
the class the USS Gerald R Ford at over
13 billion dollars in their year dollars. The budget proposal estimates the cost
of the second ship the uss john kennedy
to be just under 12 billion dollars
while the third and fourth ships in the
class the USS Enterprise and the USS Doris Mmiller. Respectively at roughly
12.5 billion dollars each.
Contributing to the high cost of the
ford class carriers are technical
problems with the lead vessel that have
resulted in significant delays. the uss ford was delivered to the navy
in 2017, but since then the new aircraft
carrier has experienced problems with
important systems including the ELAMS which through the first 747 shipboard
launches experienced 10 critical
failures. The problem is compounded by ELAMS integration into the ship wide
electrical grid which means that
technicians cannot quickly isolate the
systems during operations in order to
execute a quick fix.
The ship's new arresting system has also
experienced problems. Suffering a similar
10 failures during its first
763 shipboard landings. The navy has also reported problems with
the ford's 11 weapons elevators which
help move munitions onto the flight deck
so that they can be loaded onto aircraft. As a result of these issues the ford is
unlikely to be ready for operational
deployment until at least 2022.
