World’s most expensive warship has taken its first paces as it flaunted it’s multi-billion state-of-the-art systems this Saturday.
The US Navy’s new class of the USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed into the sea off the coast of Virginia from Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding, with the $12.9 billion carrier finally finishing after more than a year’s delay.
The construction on the USS Gerald R. Ford began in 2009 and was scheduled to finish by September 2015 at the cost of $10.5 billion. But issues with the carrier’s advanced systems and technology, that included aircraft landing equipment and power generation led to the time and cost overrun.
Defense Department Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Michael Gilmore wrote to Pentagon and Navy weapons buyers.
‘These four systems affect major areas of flight operations. Unless these issues are resolved, which would likely require redesigning, they will significantly limit the CVN-78’s ability to conduct combat operations. Based on current reliability estimates, the CVN-78 is unlikely to conduct high-intensity flight operations at the outset of a war.’
The USS Gerald R. Ford weighs around 100,000 tons, that is equal to 400 Statue of Liberties. It hosts a five-acre flight deck and can hold over 4,660 personnel and 75 aircraft at a time.
The USS Gerald R. Ford can clock a speed of 30 knots (about 34 mph) and the massive structure is equipped with about 10,000,000 feet of electronic cable installations.
The daunting warship is 1,106-foot long and was completely designed via advanced 3D modeling. The platform is capable of launching 220 airstrikes per day using its two runways, while its state of the art stealth system makes it invisible to radar detectors.