Carrier air has ridden high on American naval supremacy long enough now, flying bases to touch someone, bluff adversaries, and respond to crises worldwide. Cutting rank is the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the globe’s newest carrier and gun to watch as the commander of the cutting-edge new era in naval warfare.
The Gerald R. Ford, classnamesake and in honor of, bids the world welcome aboard the first new design carrier of decades to succeed the legendary Nimitz-class. At 1,106 feet from bow to stern and displacing about 100,000 tons, the carrier is longer than nearly every other ship in the fleet. It has a four-football-field-length flight deck and a superstructure as long as a 24-story building. That’s only the tip of the iceberg—the Ford is full of new technology. The class features 23 technological advances that transform carrier operations.
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is a steam catapult replacement with more and smoother accelerated launch and reduced aircraft and crew stress. Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) improves recovery operations by making them effective and safer. Next-generation elevators driven by evolutionary autonomous firearms empower elevating the arming of jets with increased sortie rates at reduced sailors.
Dual Band Radar (DBR) improves air and surface detection and tracking in both air and surface modes. Two A1B nuclear reactors allow Ford to steam a 25-year refuel and produce twice the power of its predecessors onto the grid. All of that surplus power keeps newer systems and upcoming technology in limbo.
Automation also transformed how the ship functions. Ford has about 400 fewer marines than an Nimitz carrier; it’s cheap and saves manpower in the future Navy. Its initial deployable mission was to demonstrate that technologies were not myths.
Despite all the decades-long delay and teething problems, Gerald R. Ford survived its first mission, i.e., deployment in the eastern Mediterranean during clashes between Hamas and Israel. While it did not encounter an eyeball-to-eyeball drone or missile threat during deployment in the Red Sea, its presence sent deafening loud words of stability and deterrence.
It has cost $13 billion, and its Ford has been unpopular wherever it has gone. The public had looked askance at the cost of refits versus the old carriers. But its maiden operating deployment demonstrated the merit of more frequent launch cycles, a smaller crew, and the flexibility of operation. With a 50-year estimated lifespan, efficiency and manpower savings will be $4 billion.
The Ford has space for over 75 aircraft, ranging from F/A-18 Super Hornet to F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter, E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, and MH-60R/S Seahawks. The ship is capable of executing all missions: precision strike, reconnaissance, sea defense, and human relief. The ship can ashore power a thousand kilometers into the interior, blockade, guard sea lanes, and direct allied action as an afloat command center.
Strategically, the carrier has so far proven to be a shrewd investment. Deployment offshore from Iran and hotspots everywhere else is a testament to its stabilizer and deterrent purpose. Where defense converges with power with offense, the Gerald R. Ford defends the allies and keeps the opponents at arm’s length away from getting hurt.
Carrier warfare is also finding its way onto the Ford-class in the next two or three years. At least four more of the class are being commissioned, and that means the Navy is poised for speed, automation, and technological superiority.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is not a vessel—it’s a shield beneath the waves, a technological wonder, and a sage beacon of evidence that America is still capable of projecting power anywhere threats are directed towards it and imposing order upon the globe.