Future Ford-Class Carrier Orders May Be at Risk
The future of the world's most expensive warship program is in doubt, according to the Associated Press. The long-delayed, much-scrutinized Ford-class carrier series is under review, and on Tuesday, Navy Secretary John Phelan refused to rule out the possibility that future orders might be called off.
The Ford-class is a 100,000-tonne warship built around first-of-a-kind electromagnetic systems for the carrier's core equipment - her catapults, arresting gear and weapons elevators. These were not fully tested to a mature state of development before installation, leading to multiyear delays and cost overruns.
First-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford's keel laying was held in 2009 for a 2015 delivery date - but due to a variety of setbacks and defects, construction cost increased by $2.8 billion and the schedule for her commissioning slipped. The Navy accepted delivery of an incomplete ship in 2017; none of Ford's 11 weapons elevators worked at the time, and the service spent the next four years in a concerted effort to make repairs. Ford finally achieved initial operational capability in December 2021, 12 years after keel-laying; she is currently operating in the Red Sea, carrying out the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.
Second-in-class USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) has also been delayed by problems with the class's complicated weapons elevators, and its 2025 delivery date has slipped to 2027. The ship is now out on sea trials. Third-in-class USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is now expected to deliver in 2030, pushed back from 2028. The fourth hull, USS Dorris Miller (CVN-81), was initially expected to deliver in 2030. (Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the U.S. Navy's sole contractor for carriers, has said that the third and fourth ships in the series will benefit from lessons learned during construction of USS Gerald R. Ford.)
As the world's most expensive weapon of any kind, and the most expensive self-propelled ship ever built, Ford was going to attract outside attention no matter what; the program has been under scrutiny for years, including recurring oversight from the Pentagon's internal testing watchdog and the Government Accountability Office. President Donald Trump has criticized the program on several occasions, taking aim at the design of the ship's catapults. Navy leadership has also critiqued the design process that led to a newbuild with so many untested technologies aboard. In 2021, then-CNO Adm. Mike Gilday described the long process of fixing Ford's elevators as "painful." "We really shouldn’t introduce more than maybe one or two new technologies on any complex platform like that in order to make sure we keep risk at a manageable level," he said at the time.
Despite the developmental issues, the Navy has defended the Ford-class program throughout, and has repeatedly praised USS Gerald R. Ford's real-world operational performance. That consistent advocacy may be changing: Navy Secretary John Phelan told the AP on Tuesday that the program is now under a "prudent and practical review." The service is evaluating the cost of the design and ensuring that the Ford-class meets all future requirements, Phelan said.
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When asked about whether any as-yet-unordered ships in the series (CVN-82 through CVN-87) could be canceled, Phelan told AP that it is too early to say. "But we will have carriers," he added.
Phelan recently cancelled the Constellation-class frigate program, citing persistent delays and cost overruns, and he has restructured a procurement program for midsize unmanned surface combatants. He is also a driving force behind the proposed "Trump-class" battleship program; the first-in-class would cost $17 billion and could start construction in 2028, Phelan said Tuesday.