The super ship fit for a superpower: America’s $13billion aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford capable of launching 220 airstrikes a day rises from its dry docks
- USS Gerald R. Ford will cost $13Billion when finished
- Carrier will be equipped to launch 220 airstrikes per day
- Ship holds 4,000 sailors and marines and is virtually invisible to enemy radar
- Project faces criticism after becoming beset by delays and cost overruns
- Navy plans to buy another three carriers, at a cost of $43 billion
By Mail Reporter
Rising from a dry dock, this is America’s latest and possibly costliest piece of military machinery ever constructed.
The world’s only superpower has released details of its new generation of aircraft carriers – the first of which costs a staggering $13billion – which it hopes will enable it to dominate any battlefield for decades to come.
But that sort of money buys an incredible amount of firepower, with the ship stuffed with cutting-edge and top secret technology.
The $13billion USS Gerald R. Ford will be one of the most fearsome weapons in the Pentagon’s arsenal
When finished, the giant 1,106-foot USS Gerald R. Ford will be able to launch 220 airstrikes per day from its two runways, hold 4,000 sailors and marines, and be virtually invisible to enemy radar.
The Navy also plans to buy another three such carriers, at a cost of $43 billion, to complete its fleet.
But the project to build the most advanced aircraft carrier every made has come at a high price, with costs overrunning to the tune of nearly $3billion and major delays.
Beci Brenton, spokesman for Huntington Ingalls Industries, the maker of the ship, told FoxNews.com: ‘The structure has been rearranged to accommodate new technology and meet all of the Navy’s operational requirements.
Superpower: The new generation of aircraft carriers incorporates a host of top secret technology which is designed to secure dominance of any battlefield
Deadly: USS Gerald R. Ford will hold 4,000 sailors and marines and is designed to be virtually invisible to enemy radar
The ship’s structure and exterior are now 100 per cent complete, Brenton said. But internal connections and features inside the ship are still being added.
The ship began construction in Newport News, Virginia, in 2007, but is unlikely to enter sea trials until 2016.
The carrier would be fully capable by February 2019, according to a critical watchdog report.
Delays ranging from between two and a half and four and a half years in testing three of the ship’s most important new advances: its dual band radar, arresting gear and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System that will catapult jets off the carrier have become serious issues.
Power: The USS Gerald R. Ford is the new generation of aircraft carriers capable of launching 220 airstrikes a day
New generation: The giant 1,106-foot ship is currently under construction at a dry dock in Newport News, Virginia, but will not be commissioned until 2016
And the spiralling costs come at a time when the Navy is seaching for ways to plug a $14 billion cut in the upcoming fiscal year as a result of the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
The state-of-the-art carrier has provoked strong criticism from some quarters, including the government’s own watchdogs.
In a report earlier this month the Government Accountability Office wrote: ‘Key ship systems face reliability shortfalls that the Navy does not expect to resolve until many years after [Ford] commissioning, which will limit the ship’s mission effectiveness during initial deployments and likely increase costs to the government.’
It added: ‘The Navy faces technical, design, and construction challenges to completing Gerald R. Ford that have led to significant cost increases.’
National security experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, have also called into question the value of the aircraft in future conflicts.
‘I’m not persuaded they’re worth twice what the old carriers cost,’ Michael O’Hanlon, of Brookings, toldFoxNews.com.
Christening: Relatives of former U.S. President Gerald Ford salute a model of a new aircraft carrier named the USS Gerald R. Ford during a naming ceremony at the Pentagon in 2007
State-of-the-art: This graphic illustrates the cutting edge technology in the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier
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