Gerald R. Ford Class Aircraft Carrier

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. The first hull of the line will be named Gerald R. Ford, and will have the hull number CVN-78.

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 CVN-80
General characteristics
Type:	aircraft carrier
Displacement:	Approx; 100,000 long tons 101,600 tonnes 112,000 short tons
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

Features

Carriers of the Ford class will incorporate fourteen new design features including:

• Advanced arresting gear.
• Automation, which reduces crew requirements by several hundred from the Nimitz class carrier.
• The updated RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile system.
• 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.
• 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-35C Lightning II.

The US 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. 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.

Construction

Construction began on components of CVN-78 in the spring of 2007, 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). 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.

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 an April 6, 2009, speech, 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.