U.S. President Biden signed a document on the 13th confirming the planned construction of two new aircraft carriers named after the two former presidents as“Bill Clinton” and“George W. Bush”. But the U. S. Naval Academy website said 13, the U. S. Navy did not clearly list the two aircraft carriers of the specific start date, indicating that the U. S. aircraft carrier replacement plan there is still no solution to the delay problem.
Reported that the two new aircraft carriers continue the naming of the U. S. Navy in recent years, that aircraft carriers are mainly named after successive U. S. presidents. Currently the U. S. Navy“Nimitz” class and“Ford” Class A total of 11 active aircraft carriers, 8 are named after successive U. S. presidents. “Bill Clinton” and“George W. Bush” are the 5th and 6th ford-class aircraft carriers. They will continue the basic design of the ford-class aircraft carrier, it displaces up to 100,000 tonnes of water and can carry 70-80 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters using a nuclear reactor as its main power source.
Currently, only Newport News Shipbuilding have the capability to build a supercarrier, the shipyard is also building three ford-class carriers — the Kennedy, the enterprise and the miller, in addition, “Nimitz” class aircraft carrier“Stennis” is in the medium-term overhaul and replacement of nuclear fuel. Due to the“Ford” class aircraft carrier construction has been seriously delayed, the U. S. Navy can not determine the“Bill Clinton” and“George W. Bush” the project schedule.
The U. S. Naval Academy website previously reported that from the“Ford”-class aircraft carrier’s first ship“Ford” started construction, engineering delays and cost overruns on the increasingly serious situation. The ship was launched in 2009, but due to the use of carrier-based aircraft electromagnetic ejection system, high-power integrated nuclear reactors, the ship’s integrated power control system and other new technologies, resulting in its progress significantly behind schedule, construction costs have also ballooned from an early estimate of about $8 billion to about $13 billion. To make matters worse, America’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the then-decrepit enterprise, was in such bad shape that it was decommissioned in 2012, the U. S. Navy can only approve the ford, which is actually far from complete, for service in 2017. As a result, Ford has been in service for a long time, undergoing sea trials and equipment adjustments. It did not become operational until 2022, when it began its first deployment. Even with its first operational deployment in the 2023, the ship has yet to be certified to carry the F-35C stealth fighter, a core piece of US aircraft carrier equipment.
“Ford” the progress is not smooth, but also a direct impact on the follow-up of the same type of ship construction progress. The second ship, Kennedy, was originally scheduled to enter service in 2018, succeeding the Nimitz, which has been in service for nearly half a century. But the ship was also delayed until 2019, when the U.S. Navy proposed what it called a“Two-phase delivery plan.” To avoid a significant gap between the decommissioning of the Nimitz and the commissioning of the Kennedy, but at this time, the new aircraft carrier only has the basic operational capability, and there is still a large part of the additional system equipment and related capabilities that need to be returned to the shipyard after delivery for testing, adjustment, modification and upgrading. But the inability of the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier to deploy new fighter jets has triggered dissatisfaction among members of Congress, who have explicitly demanded that the US Navy must ensure that the ship is capable of carrying f-35cs when it enters service, as a result, the Navy revised plans to spend an additional $531 million on comprehensive upgrades to the ship’s Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and arresting cable systems, bringing the total construction cost all the way to more than $11.9 billion, service has also been pushed back to the 2024 and now to 2025.
To save construction time, the Newport News Shipbuilding had to innovate and start building ford-class ships three and four at the same time. As a result, the navy has repeatedly had to delay the retirement of its current aircraft carrier, the Nimitz, which was due to be decommissioned around 2020 but has now been 2026. In addition, the poor condition of U.S. active aircraft carriers is widespread, the nimitz-class Eisenhower, the second-oldest American aircraft carrier in service, was to be replaced by the ford-class carrier 3 and the next-generation enterprise 2029, but now the Navy has explicitly requested that the Eisenhower continue its service after the enterprise is built, to ensure that the U. S. Navy will have 9“Nimitz” class and 3“Ford” Class A total of 12 aircraft carriers.