Sailors on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford during its commissioning ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Julio Martinez Martinez
CNN: U.S. Navy's new $13B aircraft carrier can't fight
(CNN)The $13-billion USS Gerald R. Ford is already two years behind schedule, and the U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carrier is facing more delays after the Pentagon's top weapons tester concluded the ship is still not ready for combat despite expectations it would be delivered to the fleet this September.
According to a June 28 memo obtained by CNN, Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, said the most expensive warship in history continues to struggle launching and recovering aircraft, moving onboard munitions, conducting air traffic control and with ship self-defense.
"These four systems affect major areas of flight operations," Gilmore wrote in his report to Pentagon and Navy weapons buyers Frank Kendall and Sean Stackley. "Unless these issues are resolved ... they will significantly limit CVN-78's ability to conduct combat operations."
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Update #1: On Costliest U.S. Warship Ever, Navy Can’t Get Munitions on Deck (Bloomberg)
Update #2: Navy’s $13 Billion Carrier Can’t Move Munitions to Its Deck (Fiscal Times)
WNU Editor: The US Navy's newest destroyer cannot fire its guns .... The destroyer Zumwalt's big guns don't have any ammo, and the Navy may ditch them entirely because they don't even work right (Business Insider). The Littoral Combat Ship program cannot deploy ships .... How the Navy Blew $30 Billion on 10 ‘Cheap’ Ships (Daily Beast). And now the Navy's newest carrier cannot even get munitions onto the deck of its newest aircraft carrier. For a department that spends over $200 billion a year, someone has some explaining to do.
