Why Is The U.S. Navy Reluctant To Conduct Shock Testing On The New USS Ford Aircraft Carrier?

A Nimitz Class Carrier Shock Trial US Navy

Craig Hooper, Forbes: The Navy Obfuscates On Shock Testing The $13 Billion USS Ford

In a normally quiet House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness hearing yesterday, a prepared Congressional Representative Elaine Luria held two Navy shipbuilding and vessel sustainment leaders to account, demanding–and often not getting–answers about the Navy’s Optimized Fleet Response Plan surface ship deployment scheme, the Navy’s carrier maintenance infrastructure, and the Navy’s brand-new $13 billion super-carrier, the troubled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).

It was a masterful performance by the first-term Congressional Representative from Virginia’s Second District, and it earned accolades from her peers on the Committee.

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WNU Editor: This is not good.

How Not To Build A U.S. Aircraft Carrier

© Photo: Wikipedia/U.S. Navy

Dan Grazier & Pierre Sprey, POGO: How Not to Build a Ship: The USS Ford

President Trump used the Navy’s next generation aircraft carrier, the CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford, as a backdrop to unveil his vision for the next defense budget in March 2017. The moment was meant to symbolize his commitment to rebuilding the military, but it also positioned the President in front of a monument to the Navy’s and defense industry’s ability to justify spending billions in taxypayer dollars on unproven technologies that often deliver worse performance at a higher cost. The Ford program also provides yet another example of the dangers of the Navy’s and industry’s end-running the rigorous combat testing that is essential to ensuring our fighting men and women go to war with equipment that works.

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WNU Editor: A long .... but very sobering read.

USS Ford Deployment Delayed By Need For More Tests

The $12.9 billion Gerald R. Ford is the first of a new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the US Navy. All are built by Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.(Photo: US Navy)

Defense News: Carrier Ford Delayed By Need For More Tests

WASHINGTON — Delivery of the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, is being delayed six to eight weeks, the service announced Tuesday, with more testing needed before the new ship can begin sea trials.

The Navy and its shipbuilder, Newport News Shipbuilding, had been driving to a delivery date of March 31, 2016. That has now slipped to mid- or late-May, a Navy spokesperson said, but a specific date will await the result of tests and trials.

Cmdr. Thurraya Kent, spokesperson for the Navy’s acquisition directorate, said in a statement that any costs associated with the delays are being “managed within budget and below the [congresssionally-mandated] $12.887 billion cost cap.”

Kent did not detail what specific tests led to the new delays.

Update: Sea trials delayed for aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford -- Reuters

WNU Editor: It is a new carrier design ... so I guess it is prudent to make sure that everything works right. But at $12.9 billion a copy .... they better make sure it works.