Spain and eight other countries will participate in the strike group’s first deployment Portaviones Atomic USS Gerald R. Ford, Initially scheduled for 2018 and delayed due to the great technical complexity of the new systems involved superheroes, The announcement by the United States Navy represents a new step on a difficult path following the construction and commissioning of the largest and most expensive ship in history, inaugurating a new class of aircraft carriers, the Ford Class, which progressively will be retired. aircraft carrier of old class nimitz property under the umbrella of us Navy for forty years.
Brand new US Navy ship scheduled to leave US naval base Norfolk (Virginia) These days, but once again she will have to wait because of the storm that hits parts of the US East Coast, so the Second Fleet has decided to postpone what would be its first deployment. Most of the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, where the USS Gerald Ford is located, was under a flood warning as of Tuesday, so a new deployment date would only be determined after weather permitting.
Once this setback is overcome, the head of Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group will sail For the first time in the Atlantic, considered an area of ”strategic interest” by the commander of the US Second Fleet, dan dwyer, in an exercise that will involve air, sea and land assets from NATO allies and allies including Spain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. gross 9,000 people from nine countries, 20 ships and 60 aircraft will take part.
American aircraft carriers take about five years to build, but Gerald Ford’s production lasted eight years, from 2009, when the keel was laid, to 2017. After years of delay and 30% cost, the USS Gerald Ford (The final cost is close to $13,000 million.) received initial operational capability from the US Navy last December and is now battle-ready.
At 333 meters long and 77 meters wide, the supership displaces 100,000 tons and for the first time incorporates nearly two dozen technologies that make a qualitative leap in relation to the Nimitz class. Among the novelty are a new aircraft retrieval system, eleven electromagnetically operated elevators designed to transport bombs and missiles by ship, and a new search radar.
But undoubtedly the most outstanding aspect is Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which uses a linear induction motor catapult instead of the steam piston used on the Nimitz class. This technology enables smaller and lighter unmanned aircraft to be launched and thereby saves cost and time.
Another element to highlight is an energy system that does work A more powerful double nuclear reactor of the A1B type and with 600 MW, Over 550 MW (thermal) of two Nimitz A4W reactors. This more robust nuclear power plant not only provides more power but also more autonomy.
The new Ford-class aircraft carriers are equipped with AN/SPY-3 and AN/SPY-4 Active Electronically Scanned Array Multifunction Radar and visually modify the roof structure by presenting A smaller and more functional island. Armament consists of two RIM-162 ESSM launchers, two RIM-116 RAMs, three Phalanx CIWS, and four M2 .50 Cal. (12.7mm) machine gun.
It is planned to include 40 to 50 fighter aircraft. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet You F-35, plus five EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft; 19 MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and four E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft.
too many problems
Ford has given quite a headache in recent years. Chief of Naval Operations, Mike Gilday, acknowledged that the US Navy built the USS Ford aircraft carrier with several new technologies, such as the 23, calling it a “mistake” and the Navy could not afford to repeat it.
The US Navy is building three new aircraft carriers. will be next John F Kennedy, whose delivery is scheduled for 2024, Ford will be third in the class Enterprise (2027) and fourth Doris Miller, It will enter service in 2032.
