Written by
Jeanette Steele
The Navy's next aircraft carrier, the Gerald R Ford, is halfway complete in a Virginia shipyard. — Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries
The next U.S. aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, is structurally halfway complete.The first ship in the Navy’s new class of carriers has been under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Newport News, Va., since November 2009.
The company said Thursday that it is on track to meet the scheduled time line of launching the flattop in 2013 and delivery to the Navy in 2015.
Depiction of what the Gerald R. Ford -- the first in the Navy's new class of aircraft carrier -- will look like when complete in 2013. — Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries
The Ford’s price tag is $14 billion, which includes research and development and equipment purchased directly by the Navy.
Mindful of the high cost of carriers, the Navy is considering deferring the purchase of the next new carrier -- already named the John F. Kennedy -- by as much as two years, the Associated Press has reported. Officials also could look to cancel a future carrier in this time of budget austerity.
Huntington, the nation's only builder of the nuclear-powered flattops, is presently scheduled to receive the contract to build the Kennedy in fiscal year 2013, the AP said.
Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said in an Aug. 4 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune that the nation needs 11 carriers, its current count, to meet the demands placed on the Navy in terms of response time and maintaining a presence around the globe.
When the nation’s oldest active flattop, the Enterprise, is decommissioned in 2012, Navy’s carrier inventory will drop to 10 until the Ford is delivered. Two of the 10, the Carl Vinson and the Ronald Reagan, are currently stationed in San Diego.
“We can meet the requirements of the nation with 10, for that period of time,” said Roughead, who is slated to retire Sept. 23.
However, he said the Navy intends to keep delivering a new carrier every five years to replace those retiring.
“If people talk about stretching out the (building time line) of the carriers, they become more expensive,” he said.
“If you interrupt that build and say we’ll skip one and go for the next one down the line, I think you call into question the viability of the industrial base to be there when you decide you want to go back to it.”
The Ford represents the next generation of U.S. aircraft carriers. It will feature a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults, an enhanced flight deck capable of increased aircraft takeoff rates, and room for future technologies and reduced manning.
Huntington Ingalls is the entity created when Northrop Grumman Corp. spun off its shipbuilding unit on March 31.
