Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier
 CVN-78 artist depiction |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Operators: |  United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Nimitz class aircraft carrier |
| Building: | 2 |
| Planned: | Gerald R. Ford John F. Kennedy[1] CVN-80 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | Approx; 100,000 long tons 101,600 tonnes 112,000 short tons[2] |
| Length: | 1,092 ft (333 m) |
| Beam: | Flight deck: 252 ft (77 m) Waterline: 134 ft (41 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 A1B nuclear reactors |
| Speed: | In excess of 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement: | 4,660 |
| Armament: | Surface-to-air missiles Close-in weapon systems |
| Aircraft carried: | 75+ |
| Aviation facilities: | 1,092 × 256 foot (333 × 78 m) flight deck |
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers (or Ford-class) are a class of supercarrier for the United States Navy, intended to eventually replace the current Nimitz-class carriers. The new vessels will use a hull design very similar to the Nimitz carriers in appearance, but many aspects of the design will be very different, implementing new technologies developed since the initial design of the previous class (such as the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System), as well as other design features intended to improve efficiency and running costs, including a reduced crew requirement.[3] The first hull of the line will be named Gerald R. Ford, and will have the hull number CVN-78.[Note 1][4]
Contents |
[edit] Features
Carriers of the Ford class will incorporate design features including:[5]
- Advanced arresting gear.[6]
- Automation, which reduces crew requirements by several hundred from the Nimitz class carrier.
- The updated RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile system.[7]
- AN/SPY-3 dual-band radar (DBR), as developed for Zumwalt class destroyers.
- An Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) in place of traditional steam catapults for launching aircraft.[6]
- A new nuclear reactor design (the A1B reactor) for greater power generation.
- Stealthier features to help reduce radar profile.
- The ability to launch the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, and the F-35C Lightning II.[8]
The Navy believes that with the addition of the most modern equipment and extensive use of automation, it will be able to reduce the crew requirement and the total cost of future aircraft carriers.[9] The primary recognition feature compared to earlier supercarriers will be the more aft location of the navigation "island." The relocation of the "island" will enable the carrier to sustain 140–160 sorties per day with a surge capability of 220 sorties.[10]
[edit] Construction
Construction began on components of CVN-78 in the spring of 2007,[11] and is planned to finish in 2015. It is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (formerly Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding) in Newport News, Virginia, the only shipyard in the United States capable of building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In 2005, it was estimated to cost at least $8 billion excluding the $5 billion spent on research and development (though that was not expected to be representative of the cost of future members of the class).[9] A 2009 report said that the Ford would cost $14 billion including research and development, and the actual cost of the carrier itself would be $9 billion.[12]
A total of three carriers have been authorized for construction, but if the Nimitz-class carriers and the Enterprise were to be replaced on a one-for-one basis, eleven carriers would be required over the life of the program. However, the last Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is not scheduled to be decommissioned until 2058.
In a speech on 6 April 2009, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the Navy Aircraft Carrier program would shift to a five-year building program so as to place it on a "more fiscally sustainable path". Such a measure would result in ten carriers by 2040.[13]
[edit] Naming
There was a movement by the USS America Carrier Veterans' Association to have CVN-78 named after the America rather than after President Ford. Eventually, LHA-6 was named America.
On 27 May 2011, the Department of Defense announced the name of CVN-79 would be USS John F. Kennedy.[14]
There are now at least two online petitions to have CVN-80 named as the ninth USS Enterprise.[15][16] The current USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is scheduled to be decommissioned fall 2012.[17]
[edit] Ships in class
There are expected to be ten ships of this class.[18] To date, three have been announced:
- Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) (2015) – Scheduled to replace Enterprise (CVN-65).
- John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)[1] (2020) – Scheduled to replace Nimitz (CVN-68).
- CVN-80 (2025) – Scheduled to replace Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69).
[edit] Aircraft
The Ford class of carriers will be capable of carrying about 90 aircraft including the F-35 Lightning II, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the EA-18G Growler, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, C-2A Greyhound, MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters and unmanned combat air vehicles such as the X-47B.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Before its redesignation as the Ford-class (CVN-78), this new class of carriers was known as the CVNX carrier program ("X" meaning "in development") and then as the CVN-21 carrier program. (Here, the "21" is not a hull number; it is common in "future" plans in the U.S. military, as an allusion to 21st century.)
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Navy Names Next Aircraft Carrier USS John F. Kennedy" (Press release). Secretary of the Navy Public Affairs. 29 May 2011. http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=60686.
- ^ "Aircraft Carriers – CVN 21 Program". Fact File. United States Navy. 6 November 2009. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=250&ct=4. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ "CVN 78 Gerald R Ford Class". Naval technology.com. 22 December 2009. http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvn-21/. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- ^ "Next aircraft carrier named Gerald R. Ford". Forbes. 3 January 2007. http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2007/01/03/ap3296796.html.[dead link]
- ^ Ronald O'Rourke (22 December 2009). "Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress". Congressional Research Service. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS20643.pdf. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
- ^ a b "Carrier Launch System Passes Initial Tests". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=dti&id=news/dti/2010/06/01/DT_06_01_2010_p42-228803.xml.
- ^ "Aircraft Carriers – CVN 21 Program". US Navy (Navy Fact File). 9 February 2011. http://nae.ahf.nmci.navy.mil/downloads/NAV2010_04_Future_carrier_CVW_amphib_ACE_sp.pdf. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
- ^ a b "Costing the CVN-21: A DID Primer". Defense Industry Daily. 19 December 2005. http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2005/12/costing-the-cvn21-a-did-primer/index.php. Retrieved 7 November 2007. Covers the costs of the CVN-21 program, how those are calculated, and where the $5 billion savings on operational costs is expected to come from over the ship's planned 50-year lifetime.
- ^ Keeter, Hunter. "New Carrier Island Is at Heart of Higher Sortie Rates for CVN 21". NavyLeague.org. Archived from the original on June 2003. http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/jun_03_23.php. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
- ^ Jon W. Glass. "Construction Begins on the First Ford-class Carrier". The Virginian-Pilot. http://hamptonroads.com/node/241601. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
- ^ "The Politician Class Carriers Evolve". strategypage.com. 12 April 2009. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20090412.aspx. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
- ^ "Defense Budget Recommendation Statement (Arlington, VA)". US Department of Defense. 6 April 2009. http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1341. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
- ^ "Navy Names Next Aircraft Carrier USS John F. Kennedy". http://www.defense.gov//releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14523. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ http://ussenterp.epetitions.net/signatures.php?petition_id=1870
- ^ http://www.jeffhead.com/cvn80-bige/
- ^ "House and Senate Armed Services Committees agree FY 2010 Navy shipbuilding authorization". defpro.com, October 10, 2009
- ^ "CVN-77 Delivery Moved To December, Newport News On Track For January Commissioning". Defense Daily. 2008. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6712/is_24_239/ai_n29459545/.
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carriers |
- Aircraft Carriers – CVN – US Navy Fact File
- Design & Preparations Continue for the USA's New CVN-21 Super-Carrier (updated), Defense Industry Daily. Provides an extensive briefing re: the new ship class, and adds entries for many of the contracts under this program.
|
||||||||
