US carrier plan harbors risk of near-term obsolescence

The US Navy is ramping up production of Ford-class aircraft carriers despite concerns about the growing vulnerability of the nuclear-powered massive ships to missile attacks, shortfalls in American shipbuilding capability and a seemingly outdated focus on obsolete design concepts.

This month, Naval News reported that the US Navy is increasing deliveries of its new Ford-class aircraft carriers amid a perceived growing need for their capabilities. Justin Meyer, executive director of the US Navy’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Carriers, is quoted in the report highlighting the benefits and importance of buying, building and operating the carriers in “twos.”

The report notes that US demand for aircraft carriers has never been greater, with USS Carl Vinson, USS Ronald Reagan, USS Gerald R Ford, and USS Dwight D Eisenhower operating in dual-carrier operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The USS Gerald R Ford, commissioned in 2017 and operating since 2022, is the first of a new class of carriers procured to replace in-service Nimitz-class ships. The next Ford-class carrier to be deployed will be the USS John F Kennedy, with over 90% of construction complete and the carrier’s combat systems undergoing testing.

Naval News says that testing of the ship’s aircraft launch and recovery equipment, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) will begin in the second quarter of 2024. The report says the carrier is delivered with core capabilities like its F-35 aircraft operations ready to go.

The USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller Ford-class carriers are being procured under a “two-ship buy” strategy. The USS Enterprise is now 35% complete, with over 20,000 tons assembled in dry dock, while the