America's newest aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R Ford is due to be commissioned in the end of July the Ford is the first of a brand new generation of super carriers of which 9 more will be built over the next few decades
the new Ford class will be very similar to the previous Nimitz class in terms of size armament speed and aircraft capacity by far the biggest upgrade is the new catapult to launch its aircraft previous generations of US carriers use steam-powered Cannibals the new system being installed on the Ford is EMALS or the electromagnetic aircraft Launch System it takes up much less room this much lighter can launch aircraft at a quicker rate creates less wear and tear on the aircraft requires less maintenance and less manpower to operate compared to a steam catapult it also has the ability to launch much later aircraft like UAVs
however the system is based many difficulties a major issue is that the system has not been firing reliably during testing in 2013 over 10% of all launches failed in the first public launch in 2015 failed as well also due to problems EMALS cannot launch aircraft with external ill tanks the problems have led the Navy to briefly discussed reverting back to steam catapults for future Ford class carriers
it is very common to have issues with brand new systems and the Navy stated they fully expect to have all the problems fixed before the ship's first deployment in the early 2020s, another feature of the USS Ford is self the board is designed with a reduced radar cross-section by as much as 75% with the revised superstructure and leading edges even with that reduction the carrier is still far from being considered a stealth ship a 75% reduction in RCS only results in about a 30% reduction in radar detection range and the ship will still have a large EMF and infrared signature
in terms of Armament the ship carries 3 Phalanx CIWS, 2 Evolved SeaSparrow missile launchers and 2 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher, the Phalanx and the RAM weapons are used for point defense which is the last line of defense that while others failed to destroy a threat the Evolved SeaSparrow is a major upgrade of the original SeaSparrow installed on previous carriers it has about three times a range has upgraded sensors and data links and is much more maneuverable compared to the SeaSparrow, another major upgrade is the inclusion of the Spy-3 phased Array Radar the new radar is designed to detect the most advanced Stealthy Anti-Ship Missiles and provide target elimination for the Evolve SeaSparrow missiles
the ship will carry a similar composition of aircraft compared to previous Nimitz carriers this includes four strike fighter squadrons each consisting of 10 to 12 F/A-18 or F-35s, 4 Airborne Early-Warning E-2D Hawkeye which are the eyes and ears of the carriers and can detect any aircraft or surface ships within 350 miles, 5 EA-18G Growler used for electronic warfare and over a dozen MH-60 Seahawk used to destroy enemy submarines and transport cargo and supplies
the USS Gerald art Ford will enter into an era with many more advanced new threats compared to previous carriers these include extremely fast supersonic and soon even hypersonic anti-ship missiles our rapidly growing and expanding Chinese Navy and even anti-ship ballistic missiles in order to defend against these threats the carriers will never travel alone it travels with an escort of guided missile cruisers and destroyers submarines and various support ships its escorts carry longer-range missiles like the SM-2 SM-3 and SM-6 to defend the carrier against airborne threats while this composition of aircraft carriers and ships create one of the most powerful military forces on earth the proliferation of cheaper and more powerful anti-ship weapons continue to threaten these expensive vessels.
the new Ford class will be very similar to the previous Nimitz class in terms of size armament speed and aircraft capacity by far the biggest upgrade is the new catapult to launch its aircraft previous generations of US carriers use steam-powered Cannibals the new system being installed on the Ford is EMALS or the electromagnetic aircraft Launch System it takes up much less room this much lighter can launch aircraft at a quicker rate creates less wear and tear on the aircraft requires less maintenance and less manpower to operate compared to a steam catapult it also has the ability to launch much later aircraft like UAVs
however the system is based many difficulties a major issue is that the system has not been firing reliably during testing in 2013 over 10% of all launches failed in the first public launch in 2015 failed as well also due to problems EMALS cannot launch aircraft with external ill tanks the problems have led the Navy to briefly discussed reverting back to steam catapults for future Ford class carriers
it is very common to have issues with brand new systems and the Navy stated they fully expect to have all the problems fixed before the ship's first deployment in the early 2020s, another feature of the USS Ford is self the board is designed with a reduced radar cross-section by as much as 75% with the revised superstructure and leading edges even with that reduction the carrier is still far from being considered a stealth ship a 75% reduction in RCS only results in about a 30% reduction in radar detection range and the ship will still have a large EMF and infrared signature
in terms of Armament the ship carries 3 Phalanx CIWS, 2 Evolved SeaSparrow missile launchers and 2 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher, the Phalanx and the RAM weapons are used for point defense which is the last line of defense that while others failed to destroy a threat the Evolved SeaSparrow is a major upgrade of the original SeaSparrow installed on previous carriers it has about three times a range has upgraded sensors and data links and is much more maneuverable compared to the SeaSparrow, another major upgrade is the inclusion of the Spy-3 phased Array Radar the new radar is designed to detect the most advanced Stealthy Anti-Ship Missiles and provide target elimination for the Evolve SeaSparrow missiles
the ship will carry a similar composition of aircraft compared to previous Nimitz carriers this includes four strike fighter squadrons each consisting of 10 to 12 F/A-18 or F-35s, 4 Airborne Early-Warning E-2D Hawkeye which are the eyes and ears of the carriers and can detect any aircraft or surface ships within 350 miles, 5 EA-18G Growler used for electronic warfare and over a dozen MH-60 Seahawk used to destroy enemy submarines and transport cargo and supplies
the USS Gerald art Ford will enter into an era with many more advanced new threats compared to previous carriers these include extremely fast supersonic and soon even hypersonic anti-ship missiles our rapidly growing and expanding Chinese Navy and even anti-ship ballistic missiles in order to defend against these threats the carriers will never travel alone it travels with an escort of guided missile cruisers and destroyers submarines and various support ships its escorts carry longer-range missiles like the SM-2 SM-3 and SM-6 to defend the carrier against airborne threats while this composition of aircraft carriers and ships create one of the most powerful military forces on earth the proliferation of cheaper and more powerful anti-ship weapons continue to threaten these expensive vessels.
