The United States spent $120 billion to build the Ford-class aircraft carrier, and the first aircraft carrier, the USS Ford (CVN 78), has been deployed to the Mediterranean in October 2023, but it is already four years later than expected. And due to a number of problems, carrier-based aircraft were not carried, but relied on destroyers, frigates in the battle group for protection and guard.
In fact, the Newport News shipyard in the United States once had six aircraft carriers under construction, including the fourth Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Dorris Miller (CVN 81), which was built on August 25, 2021, and the previously built USS Kennedy (CVN-79) and USS Enterprise (CVN-80).
The other two vessels, the CVN-73 "Washington" and the CVN-74 "Steanis", are undergoing mid-term refueling and composite overhauls, which will take a long time. And the soon-to-be-decommissioned aircraft carrier "Nimitz" is still waiting in line to enter the scrapped and dismantled dock.
Due to the large number of advanced technologies used in the Ford-class aircraft carriers, problems continue to be exposed. Therefore, the first ship has not been able to carry the F-35C since it was commissioned in 2017 until it was deployed in the Mediterranean.
According to Pentagon data, the total construction cost of the USS Ford aircraft carrier is as high as $13.3 billion, which is the most expensive ship ever built by the US military. The preliminary research and development plus 4 ships under construction will cost up to 120 billion US dollars. What's more, a Ford costs an average of about $6.5 million a day, and the annual operating cost is as high as $23$700 million.
The cost is expensive, but the most important reason for the slow formation of combat effectiveness is the use of too many new technologies, such as the design called "revolutionary" by the US military: including the carrier-based aircraft electromagnetic catapult system, the new advanced ammunition elevator, the high-power integrated nuclear reactor, the ship-wide power integrated control system, the DBR dual-band active phased array radar, etc.
However, during the first sea trial, it was found that the new ** ammunition elevator, electromagnetic blocking system and new generator set were not working normally. After dismantling the parts on the aircraft carrier "Kennedy", the "Ford" was allowed to go to the Mediterranean.
According to a U.S. report, the reason for the repeated delays and inability of the Ford to form 100% combat effectiveness is that there is a major problem in the power supply system, which directly leads to the inability of electromagnetic ejection and electromagnetic blocking to launch carrier-based aircraft as expected.
Others, such as toilet pipes, have clogging defects throughout the life of the aircraft carrier, and the problem of $400,000 per cleaning has also emerged.
On the one hand, the Ford-class aircraft carrier uses an A4W reactor that is 40% smaller than the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and the operator is 50% smaller, but the electrical load is also significantly higher, and the energy storage system has not kept up.
It also directly led to the average failure interval of electromagnetic catapult and advanced arrest system of 181 times and 48 times, respectively, far lower than the target value of 4166 times and 1650,000 times.
To put it simply, on all-electric ships, the technology of the US military is lagging behind, especially in terms of integrated power supply. This has also directly led to the slow progress of the three Ford-class aircraft carriers under construction, except for the "Kennedy", which is still in progress, the other two have basically not moved.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin, who is visiting the Middle East, appears on the deck of the USS Ford without warning on Dec. 20, 2023, and the Associated Press reports that the USS Ford is sailing hundreds of miles off the coast of Israel, and Austin thanked the sailors for giving up vacations with their families to carry out their missions, and also thanked them for keeping an eye on the fighting between the Israeli army and Allah in Lebanon.
In fact, Austin has twice ordered the "Ford" to continue to stay in the Mediterranean, and now it is actually the third time, since the "Ford" set sail from the Norfolk base, the current round of deployment to Europe has lasted 227 days, about seven and a half months, missed the sailors' dream of returning to Christmas, and this time Austin's boarding of the "Ford" aircraft carrier was more comforting than inspiring.
However, judging from the ** taken by the US media, there are already carrier-based aircraft parked on the deck of the aircraft carrier, but it is obviously not the F-35C, it is still the F A-18F "Super Hornet" fighter, it seems that the "Ford" is still taking time to form 100% combat effectiveness, and the Iranian drone has taken a clear picture of it.