USS Gerald R. Ford (aircraft carrier)

2022: Commissioning a new $13 billion aircraft carrier

On October 4, 2022, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford set sail on her maiden voyage, a milestone for the ship at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

The aircraft carrier, worth more than $13 billion, will work with countries, including, and Canada France , Germany during the deployment, which will include training in air defense, anti-submarine warfare and amphibious operations.

US Navy commissioned a new aircraft carrier

The ship's deployment will demonstrate its unrivaled, multi-domain, full-spectral lethality in the Atlantic, U.S. Navy Adm. Daryl Cowdle said. According to him, 9 thousand people, 20 ships and 60 aircraft from nine different countries will take part in the deployment, without providing a breakdown by country.

Commissioned in 2017, the aircraft carrier has dimensions - more than 335 meters in length and a displacement of 101 thousand tons at full load. But at the same time, the USS Gerald R. Ford can sail at a speed of more than 54 km per hour.

The aircraft carrier, named after the 38th U.S. president, requires hundreds fewer crew members to operate than previous aircraft carriers and is designed to be able to carry futuristic energy weapons that are still under development.

A key improvement over previous aircraft carriers should be the speed at which the USS Gerald R. Ford can launch and pick up aircraft, however, problems with related systems have arisen, according to a report submitted to Congress in June 2022. As follows from the expert report, even if the sensor systems satisfactorily detected, tracked and aimed at targets, "the ability to destroy training targets was limited due to the not very successful operation of interceptors, radars and data transmission systems. In addition, experts say, the reliability of the aircraft carrier's descent and lifting systems is "bad or unknown at all," and recent stress tests have identified previously unknown shortcomings. The ship's gun elevators - which move missiles and bombs from magazines to the deck so they can be loaded onto planes - were also in trouble. Finally, according to experts, some indicators for ensuring the survival of the ship have already been determined, which can be increased. The ship, commissioned by the US Navy, is being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries^[1]

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Шаблон:Remarks