Thread: U.S. Navy's next aircraft carrier halfway complete

Navy's next aircraft carrier halfway complete

By Jeanette Steele, Sr. Reporter - Military
Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 5:16 p.m.

The next U.S. aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, is structurally halfway complete.

The first ship in the Navy’s new class of carriers has been under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Newport News, Va., since November 2009.

The company said Thursday that it is on track to meet the scheduled time line of launching the flattop in 2013 and delivery to the Navy in 2015.

About 860 feet of the ship's total 1,092-foot length is in dry dock, and the ship has been completed up to the level of the main deck, Huntington Ingalls said in a press statement.

The Ford’s price tag is $14 billion, which includes research and development and equipment purchased directly by the Navy.

Mindful of the high cost of carriers, the Navy is considering deferring the purchase of the next new carrier -- already named the John F. Kennedy -- by as much as two years, the Associated Press has reported. Officials also could look to cancel a future carrier in this time of budget austerity.

Huntington, the nation's only builder of the nuclear-powered flattops, is presently scheduled to receive the contract to build the Kennedy in fiscal year 2013, the AP said.

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said in an Aug. 4 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune that the nation needs 11 carriers, its current count, to meet the demands placed on the Navy in terms of response time and maintaining a presence around the globe.

When the nation’s oldest active flattop, the Enterprise, is decommissioned in 2012, Navy’s carrier inventory will drop to 10 until the Ford is delivered. Two of the 10, the Carl Vinson and the Ronald Reagan, are currently stationed in San Diego.

“We can meet the requirements of the nation with 10, for that period of time,â€

RELATED

Lockheed Martin: We've cut cost of building littoral combat ship

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-247455.html

RELATED

U.S. Sub force facing fast tempo

"The new Virginia-class submarine California was delivered 8.5 months early and below budget."

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-247545.html