4. USA: USS Gerald Ford
Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman, Newport News Shipbuilding
principal users: the US Navy
Cost of Program: $11.5 billion*
Unit Cost (for three ships): $40.2 billion*
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the class’s flagship aircraft carrier and is named for President Gerald Ford, who served in action in the Pacific Theater while stationed aboard the light aircraft carrier Monterey. Northrop Grumman and Newport News Shipbuilding produced it. Work on the project started in August 2005.
United States Navy (USA) ©U.S. Wikimedia.org/Navy
The Nimitz class was far inferior to the Gerald R. Ford class. The steam catapults are replaced by an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on the USS Gerald R. Ford, along with updated radar and weaponry. Because the ship won’t need to produce or store steam for launches, the EMALS will result in additional room below deck.
Regretfully, Gerald R. Ford is still having difficulty becoming prepared for battle. In the summer of 2020, the GAO stated that there were still significant issues with the ship’s weapons elevators. The Department of Defense acknowledged early in 2021 that just 181 of 4,166 aircraft launches were successfully completed by the EMALS.
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