The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the first of four of the U.S. Navy's most recent Ford-class
aircraft carriers, made the news when she departed for her first deployment on Tuesday
from Norfolk, Virginia.
This is significant as the U.S. Navy hasn't commissioned a new generation of aircraft
carriers in almost 40 years.
According to a U.S. Navy official, the USS Gerald Ford and the carrier strike group will
conduct operations alongside allies and partners in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic
Ocean, which are the 2nd and 6th fleet's respective areas of responsibility.
Carrier Strike Group 12 Commander Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman said in a statement,
"This deployment is an opportunity to push the ball further down the field and demonstrate
the advantage that Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 bring to the future of naval aviation,
to the region, and to our allies and partners,"
In this video Defense Updates analyzes what USS Gerald Ford brings to the table for the
US Navy?
Let's get started.
Nimitz class carriers have been the face of the U.S. Navy and have enabled power projection
far off from the American homeland.
USS Nimitz, the lead ship of the Nimitz class was commissioned in 1975.
The Nimitz class has been able to accommodate many new technologies over the decades, but
the Nimitz design has now reached its threshold.
Ford-class supercarriers are being built to replace some of the United States Navy’s
existing Nimitz-class carriers.
The first ship of this class is Gerald R. Ford.
The carrier's construction officially started in November 2009, and former President Donald
Trump commissioned it in 2017.
7 aspects of the supercarrier makes it an incredible asset.
Let check them one by one.
On Friday, June 18, 2021 the USS Gerald R. Ford successfully completed the first scheduled
explosive event as part of Full Ship Shock Trials (FSST).
The U.S. military detonated a 20-tonne or 40,000-pound bomb next to the new supercarrier.
The explosion was so powerful that it registered 3.9 on the Richter Scale.
The blast is comparable to 100 modern depth charges exploding simultaneously.
A blast can occur from anti-ship missiles, naval mines, torpedoes, or even other ships
nearby that get hit by enemy weaponry.
FSSTs include validation of almost everything including the hardiness of onboard computer
systems to nuclear reactor elements.
Ford successfully completed the third and final scheduled explosive event for Full Ship
Shock Trials on Aug. 8, 2021
During the four-month testing evolution, the aircraft carrier withstood the impact of three
underwater explosions, released at distances progressively closer to the warship.
Capt.
Paul Lanzilotta, Ford’s commanding officer had said, “We had zero catastrophic failures
on the ship, zero situations where we had flooding.
Zero fires,”
Stability at sea is a key aspect of any warship especially if it is an aircraft carrier where
warplanes are supposed to launch and land.
The ten Nimitz-class carriers in today’s fleet were gradually upgraded to counter modern
threats.
A 2005 RAND report noted that “with modernizations undertaken over the years, the ships’ weight
has increased and their center of gravity has risen (i.e., worsened) to the point where
further increases in topside weight are unacceptable.”
The Ford class resets this and will ensure that the need for constant upgrades will not
impact ship stability at sea.
USS Gerald R. Ford uses extensive automation and this has jacked up initial acquisition
costs.
But this will help to reduce the future operating cost.
For example, Ford-class carriers have a total of only 2,600 sailors, about 700 fewer than
a Nimitz-class.
A Ford-class carrier will cost $4 billion less to operate across its 50-year lifetime
than a Nimitz-class carrier
This will also mean that there will be a lesser chance of any issues or accidents due to human
errors.
The viewer may note that recently the US Navy has suffered a series of setbacks due to collisions
caused mainly due to human error.
Nimitz-class carriers launch planes using steam-actuated catapults.
The system requires a lot of steam piping, a large condensate return, and tons of fresh
water.
They tend to require quite a bit of maintenance.
Plus, with steam catapults, the majority of the force gets transferred to the airplane
at the beginning of the stroke—in a jolt.
This puts stress on an airframe, and thus reduces the lifespan of the multi-million
dollar planes.
Ford class uses Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), the first to do so.
The system uses a linear induction motor with an electric current to generate a magnetic
field.
That field then propels a carriage down a track.
Since the power delivery is linear, it negates the deficiencies of the steam catapult.
This also will be more suitable for launching next-generation fighters as well as drones
like Boeing MQ-25 Stingray.
The current system installed in Nimitz class carriers relies on hydraulics to catch the
landing aircraft.
But the system stops the aircraft with a sudden jolt.
This also puts stress on the airframe and degrades the life of aircraft, especially
lightweight crafts like UAVs.
But Ford uses very advanced electromagnetic landing gear because of which the deceleration
and final stop of the aircraft are smooth.
Along with EMALS, AAG will help to increase the sortie rate.
Ford is expected to achieve a 33% increase in sortie generation—160 sorties per day
under normal conditions, and 270 during wartime.
The heart of any aircraft carrier is the nuclear reactors which provide the required power.
The Ford class has newly designed reactors.
2 Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors are installed on each Ford-class carrier.
Each one of these is capable of producing 300 MW of electricity, triple the 100 MW of
each Nimitz class.
The huge power supply enables future expansions like inducting Laser Guns.
Also, compared to the Nimitz-class reactor, the Ford reactors have about half as many
valves, piping, major pumps, condensers, and generators which reduced maintenance cost
and lower space requirements.
Ford class has a very advanced integrated Active electronically scanned array search
and tracking radar system.
The dual-band radar (DBR) utilizes a multi-tier, dual-band tracker, which consists of a local
X-band tracker, a local S-band tracker, and a central tracker.
The central tracker merges the two signals to provide comprehensive situational awareness.
This new system has no moving parts, therefore minimizing maintenance & manning requirements.
Also, the island is kept smaller by replacing 6 to10 radar antennas with a single 6-faced
radar.
The X-band tracker is optimized for low latency to support its mission of providing defense
against fast, low-flying missiles, while the S-band tracker is optimized for large area
coverage.
So, radar is an allrounder and is most likely the best to be deployed on a warship.