Last month, the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class aircraft carrier program manager announced that the next major U.S. warship, the USS John F Kennedy, will join the Pacific Fleet when it makes its first deployment in 2025. The USS Kennedy is the second aircraft carrier named after the 35th President of the United States. The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are the new backbone of the Navy for decades to come, and the first of them is now deployed to the Mediterranean to carry out a deterrence mission and support Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Navy estimates the ship, which is nearly 90 percent completed at Hill’s Newport News shipyard, will cost $11.3 billion, about 15 percent less than the first ship in its class, the aforementioned USS Gerald R . Ford. More than 4,500 US shipbuilders and 2,000 suppliers were involved in the construction of the Kennedy.
Design and development work on the second Ford-class aircraft carrier began in 2009. When it was christened at Newport News Shipbuilding in December 2019, USS Kennedy was scheduled for delivery in 2022. After several delays, it finally appears to be delivery in 2025 after making integration changes F-35C aircraftthe Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, and solve the problems the manufacturer had in developing the USS Gerald R. Ford.
According to the US Naval Institute, the USS Kennedy will be the first Ford-class aircraft carrier to operate in the Indo-Pacific region, where the United States has directed the majority of its air and naval forces against the US China’s economic and military rise over the last decade. Captain Brian Metcalf said the airline would reach its new homeport on the West Coast of the United States in two years.
What do Ford class aircraft carriers look like?
The Ford-class aircraft carriers replace the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which have projected U.S. naval power on all five continents since the 1970s. Each of the ten current Nimitz aircraft carriers – equipped with two nuclear reactors – displaces around 100,000 tons and can fly Speeds of more than 30 knots without stopping to refuel for more than three months.
Despite the track record of these ships, the Pentagon is devoting its resources to developing the new Ford aircraft carrier class.
Unlike the Nimitz, the Fords have greater power generation capacity, nearly three times that of their predecessors. Although the ships of both classes have similar hulls, the Fords introduce up to 25 new technologies, including a new power plant, electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), engine controls, radars and integrated warfare systems. These improvements allow them to bring 25 percent more aircraft to market. The Ford can fly 160 missions per day, up to 270 in wartime. The news portal National Interest points out that it is Gerald R. Ford “the most advanced warship that has ever existed, and soon there will be the USS John F. Kennedy.”