The Ship Model Forum

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has been awarded a definitized delivery order for the first set of on board repair parts (spares), providing sustainment support to the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). This delivery order also provides spares to support the AAG land-based site at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Pentagon could be ordering two Ford-class carriers at one go

Vice Adm. Tom Moore, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, told USNI News that the service is keen to execute a two carrier block-buy to save time and money.

Moore said during the interview on Dec. 18 that it will allow the service “to get (CVN) 81 quicker” as materials can be ordered for both ships at the same time.

Video: How goes construction on the next Ford-class carrier, USS John F. Kennedy?


(FULL VIDEO AT LINK ABOVE)

Here’s the latest on America’s next supercarriers
By: David B. Larter   8 hours ago

WASHINGTON ― The future Ford-class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy is nearing the halfway mark, the head of Huntington Ingalls said Thursday.

In a conference call with investors, Ingalls chief executive Mike Petters said the Kennedy, being built in Newport News Shipbuilding, was tracking to launch ahead of schedule.

“At Newport News, CVN 79 Kennedy is approximately 75 percent structurally complete and 43 percent complete overall,” Petters said. “The team continues to produce results that are in line with our expectations and is pushing to accelerate launch by three months to the fourth quarter of 2019.

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General Atomics Awarded Contract for Ford-class EMALS and AAG Spares

Navy Recognition - 10 October 2017

The US Navy’s next carrier is now 50 percent complete
By: Jeff Martin   August 31

WASHINGTON — The future aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, the next ship in the Ford class, is now 50 percent complete, according to the Newport News Naval Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls.

The ship reached the halfway point after a “superlift,” where one of the largest construction units on the ship — a 905-metric-ton aft section — was installed, according to the company news release. That section is 80 feet long, 110 feet wide and four decks in height, the shipbuilder said.

The ship is set to be launched in late 2019.

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Why the Navy thinks the carrier Gerald R. Ford will work after all
By: Mark D. Faram   7 hours ago
The technology glitches plaguing the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, lead ship of the Navy’s next generation of flattops, are getting fixed, officials told lawmakers during a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill.
The combination punch of good news at the Senate Armed Services' Seapower Subcommittee included testimony that the Navy has recorded significant cost savings during the building of the John F. Kennedy, the next Ford-class carrier, and is prepping to purchase two similar flattops in fiscal 2020.
Pressed by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on possible problems with the Ford’s advanced weapons elevators, James F. Geurts — assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition — predicted the Ford would leave the Newport News Shipbuilding yard with a working system for delivering ordnance to the flight deck.
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Navy Finally Has One Weapons Elevator Working on Its Newest Carrier
22 Jan 2019
Military.com | By Richard Sisk
The bigger and faster electromagnetic weapons elevator on the new aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford is finally ready for use, an achievement the Navy called a "major milestone" for the program and other Ford-class carriers to be built in the future.
Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said earlier this month that he had bet his job on getting all the Ford's elevators to work, telling President Donald Trump that the project would be done by this summer "or you can fire me."
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Navy Takes Out Drone in Groundbreaking Test for Supercarrier Gerald R. Ford
5 Feb 2019
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the event occurred on a test vessel, not aboard the Ford as previously stated.
The Navy recently got a step closer to getting the first ship in its new class of aircraft carriers ready for combat missions with a live-fire test off the coast of California.
A drone was taken out by Raytheon's latest integrated combat system that’s being developed for the supercarrier Gerald R. Ford, Raytheon announced Tuesday. The event took place on a test vessel off the coast of California, said Ian Davis, a Raytheon spokesman.
The system the Navy used to take down the drone is called the Ship Self-Defense System. It integrates a myriad of equipment that will be used aboard the Navy’s first Ford-class carrier, such as sensors, missiles and radars.
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Faulty Nuclear Propulsion and Elevators Further Delay USS Ford's Delivery
27 Mar 2019
Stars and Stripes | By Scott Wyland
Repairing the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford's nuclear propulsion systems and weapons elevators is taking longer than expected, causing a three-month delay in delivering a vessel that has continually run over budget and schedule since its construction began a decade ago.
The lead ship of its class, the Ford won't join the fleet until October so crews can finish repairs and other work, Navy officials told a House Armed Services subcommittee Tuesday.
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Congress Unhappy With Ford-Class Inability to Deploy With F-35 Fighters
By: Ben Werner
June 3, 2019 6:33 PM
CAPITOL HILL – The Navy’s newest aircraft carriers are being delivered without the capability to deploy with the service’s most advanced fighters, a situation lawmakers call unacceptable.
The House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee included in its Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act mark language a prohibition for the Navy to accept delivery of its next Ford-class carrier, John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), unless the carrier can deploy with F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, a committee staff member said during a media briefing Monday. The carrier is expected to be christened by the end of 2019.
Cost caps imposed by Congress on the Ford-class program to keep the price of these ships from escalating have accomplished the opposite effect, with the Navy accepting delivery of unfinished carriers and intending to pay more money later on to add critical capabilities in the future, the committee staff member said.
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On Costliest U.S. Warship Ever, Navy Can’t Get Munitions on Deck
By Anthony Capaccio
July 30, 2019, 4:00 AM EDT

‘Essentially, the ship can’t deploy,’ lawmaker Luria says
Weapons can’t be lifted to the deck of USS Gerald R. Ford

The USS Gerald R. Ford sea trials off the U.S. East Coast.
The USS Gerald R. Ford sea trials off the U.S. East Coast. Photographer: U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Only two of 11 elevators needed to lift munitions to the deck of the U.S. Navy’s new $13 billion aircraft carrier have been installed, according to a Navy veteran who serves on a key House committee.

“I don’t see an end in sight right now” to getting all the elevators working on the USS Gerald R. Ford, the costliest warship ever, Democratic Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia said in an interview. The ship was supposed to be delivered with the Advanced Weapons Elevators, which are moved by magnets rather than cables, working in May 2017.

It’s another setback for contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. -- and for the Navy, which had said in December it planned to complete installation and testing of all 11 elevators before the Ford completed its post-delivery shakedown phase this month, with at least half certified for operation.

USS Gerald R. Ford Begins Builder's Sea Trials
Instead, the shakedown phase has been extended to October and the vessel won’t have all the elevators installed -- much less functioning -- by then, according to Luria, a 20-year Navy surface warfare officer whose served on two aircraft carriers and as shore maintenance coordinator for a third.

“Essentially, the ship can’t deploy,” Luria said. “It can’t carry ammunition.” She said the Navy and Huntington Ingalls are trying to solve new problems with doors and hatches lining elevators shafts that don’t meet specifications.(...SNIPPED)

Navy Leader Denies the Service Is Blaming Shipbuilder for Carrier Ford’s Many Problems
25 Oct 2019
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
Days after the Navy secretary criticized a shipbuilder for ongoing problems with a new $13 billion aircraft carrier, his No. 2 acknowledged the service should be held accountable for decisions that contributed to the issues.
Under Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said Friday that the service should not have opted to put so many new technologies on the first Ford-class aircraft carrier, which has delayed the delivery of the ship and pushed it over budget.
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