an aircraft carrier isn't just a big ship built for war
today aircraft carriers are a symbol of prestige and strength for countries navies worldwide
known as floating air bases these gigantic carriers are equipped with complete flight
deck facilities capable of carrying arming deploying and recovering aircraft
lately the atmosphere of an arms race between the big countries is getting more and more
pronounced driven by two rivals the us and china maritime military capabilities are the main focus
recently in its annual defense report the pentagon said that today the u.s navy is no longer the
largest in the world the pentagon has also begun to highlight china's accelerating military growth
most world powers operate or build technologically
advanced aircraft carriers to protect their maritime rights and interests
regardless today the united states still has one of the most substantial naval fleets known as the
13 billion aircraft carrier which is recognized as the largest aircraft carrier in the world
so in this video the us military news channel will discuss the new 13 billion dollar aircraft carrier
there were a lot of problems and delays with the new 13 billion dollar aircraft
carrier the uss gerald r ford for a long time but this year it is finally working
it is the largest warship ever built and costs about 13 billion dollars to make
one day it will be one of the most technologically advanced ships globally
as a result the giant carrier has had problems putting the project years behind
the uss gerald r ford is the most expensive and cutting edge warship ever built in terms of money
and technology the ship was christened in november 2013 and is set to be put into service this summer
a navy office of information officer said it was supposed to be made this month but now won't be
the uss gerald r ford is a vast ship holding more than 4 500 people it weighs 90 000 tons
and has a lot of space u.s navy nimitz-class carriers will replace the cbn 78 part of the new
ford class of carriers at first glance the halls of both classes look the same still the ford class
introduced several technological changes to make the carrier more efficient and reduce costs and
crew requirements among the new things the uss gerald r ford will have a lot of new equipment
technology and systems this will make it a real threat for any navy to face it is just
as crucial as its predecessors from the nimitz class but it is much more efficient with space
making more critical systems one of the most exciting things about the new ship
is its electromagnetic launch system which replaces the old steam-powered catapults
to do what gerald r ford can do the us navy has given it the most up-to-date equipment
that it can get its hands on back in 2005 the carrier was being built and by early
2012 75 of the ship's structure was done by may 2013 the vessel was finished and ready to go
it was delivered to the owner by 2015. however this would be pushed back many times which
would delay its arrival for years so that it wouldn't come for years for a while it was
thought that it would be put into use in 2018. now though this is more likely to happen in 2022
there are a lot of problems with the new technologies that are being used
but the new launch system and weapons elevator on the ship is still a big problem for them
last year's first shock test for a u.s navy carrier went well
it was hit with 20 metric tons of explosives which caused a 3.9 magnitude earthquake
people in the u.s navy wanted to find out if the uss geraldo ford which cost about 13 billion
dollars or 11 billion pounds to build could handle being in a war zone and was ready for war
the navy said they would do the test in a statement they also released a blast video
on sunday two days after they did the same thing in the atlantic ocean u.s news said
it was a blast that weighed 40 000 pounds or 18 144 kilograms and spewed water into the air
the explosives were detonated just a few meters away from the uss gerald ford one of
the largest and newest aircraft carriers in the world off the coast of florida
the united states geological survey recorded an earthquake with a 3.9 magnitude on friday after
completing its important summer shock test which caused the ship to detonate potent explosives all
around 40 000 pounds of explosives were used to see how general dar ford would go under real life
conditions the good news is that the rear admiral gregory huffman said that quote everything is
on track so this should change soon quote we're still looking to get out as scheduled after the
six months availability no big show stoppers that they've come across at all so very very positive
news coming from the captain of the shipyard and then as we come out of that i think we're going to
be set very well to get back in that operational mindset and get ready for the deployment
the ship passed the test although it did experience a few issues quote we did have some
things break but we'll fix them the commanding officer of the gerald r ford said at the time
from a severity standpoint i'd like to say that we had zero catastrophic failures on the ship
zero situations where we had flooding zero fires all that is pretty significant
the navy wants the carrier to be operational because of budgetary concerns and because the
airline is a powerful and essential tool in their arsenal the us navy's already
world-class capabilities will be bolstered by the addition of gerald r ford to its fleet
getting the ford class out there with its capabilities will increase the number of
carriers and carrier strike groups available to meet demand and it will provide more flexibility
combined with ford's expected increase in capabilities this will give the military's
combat commanders and other decision makers more options and resources at their disposal the gerald
r ford class carriers were equipped with weapons elevators and electromagnetic launch systems as a
result there is no longer a need for ample space on the flight deck to generate and distribute
steam pressure this system can launch more planes in a given time but with a smaller group
even as the uss gerald r ford approaches operational status
work continues on the ship's infrastructure to accommodate
new systems such as the f-35 lightning ii fighter jet scheduled to be deployed
the ford is easier to adapt and flex with a more modular mindset as new equipment comes into
operation we begin to consider the new air wing composition as new technologies are introduced
you