The Right Way To Buy The U.S. Navy’s New Generation Of Supercarriers

[Peter1469]

The plan calls for 10 Ford class carriers. We have one about to go operational, and a second soon to be out of the shipyards.

Unfortunately we only have one yard that is capable of producing the Ford class. That is a mistake.

The Right Way To Buy The U.S. Navy’s New Generation Of Supercarriers

Some time later this year, the lead ship in a new class of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will commence its first deployment. The USS Gerald R. Ford, named for the nation’s 38th president, heralds a sea change in American naval power—the first clean-sheet design of a carrier since the USS Nimitz was commissioned in 1975.



Large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers aren’t just the biggest warships ever built, they are the signature expression of U.S. military might. With a crew of 4,500 personnel and a steadily evolving air wing of 75 or more high-performance aircraft, the ten Ford-class carriers are expected to be the centerpiece of America’s maritime force structure through the year 2105.




It is hard to overstate how fearsome the Ford class will be as a tool of U.S. strategy. The carriers will be capable of generating 160 aircraft sorties per day during peacetime operations, and up to 270 in wartime. Each of the strike fighters in the carrier air wing will be able to precisely destroy multiple targets in a single flight. And because their base at sea is mobile—able to move over 700 miles in a single day—the fighters will be more flexible and resilient than any land-based aircraft.



The Ford class incorporates two dozen major technologies not available when the Nimitz class was conceived, everything from an electromagnetic aircraft launch system to a dual-band radar to a super-efficient pair of nuclear reactors that can generate twice as much electricity as the vessel currently needs to accommodate future warfighting innovations (like high-power lasers).



The scale of Ford-class supercarriers is captured in this image of the lead ship while it was under ... [+]
WIKIPEDIA
And thanks to a combination of new technology and redesigned interior spaces, each Ford-class carrier will be able to deliver big gains in performance with 600 fewer crew members than typically populate a Nimitz. The Navy figures that each Ford-class carrier will save the service $4 billion in life-cycle costs compared with a Nimitz-class vessel.

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In fashioning an optimum industrial strategy, several basic facts about naval shipbuilding need to be considered.

• First, the U.S. Navy buys the most advanced, complex warships in the world.
• Second, the construction of such vessels requires hundreds of specialized suppliers and thousands of skilled workers.
• Third, the resulting production inputs must be carefully sequenced to keep warship assembly on track.
• Fourth, because so many of these inputs are unique, it can take years for some orders to be delivered.
• Fifth, in the absence of timely orders, many suppliers lack the financial resources to keep their workforces intact.
• Sixth, once highly skilled workers are lost, recruiting, training and certifying new personnel is challenging.
• Finally, for the vast majority of inputs used in constructing U.S. warships, there is only one qualified domestic source.

[MisterVeritis]

What we really need are far more submarines able to lay mines, destroy shipping, and deliver special operators.

Aircraft carriers are important for diplomacy so keep them in the mix.

We also need to add aircraft that can fly very long distances and loiter for long periods of time over the battle space.