The Navy’s new $13 billion carrier has run into trouble, and the Navy has called in some outside help.

Capitol Hill has some concerns over the state of the Navy’s Ford-class aircraft carrier, but the Navy is moving forward with next-generation technology, fixing as it goes.

In future wars, “one of our battles is going to be just getting off of the pier,” the Navy’s top civilian said, because of cyber attacks against Navy forces and infrastructure.

The Navy thinks it will need at least $40 billion a year to maintain its new fleet — but admits that they haven’t actually added it all up yet.

The Navy may back off its much-publicized call for a 355-ship fleet and look at new options like unmanned vessels, the Chief of Naval Operations said.

WASHINGTON: The Navy signed a massive, $15.2 billion contract with Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding this evening for two more Ford-class aircraft carriers, hours after a Pentagon report listed a litany of problems with the ambitious program. The contract pays for completion of in 2028 of the USS Enterprise, which began in 2017. It also… Keep reading →

Congress is evaluating the proposal to issue a $24 billion contract for the Navy’s next two carriers, as the service looks at months of work to fix ongoing problems with the Ford-class’s first ship.

As the Navy sorties 30 ships from Norfolk and surrounding bases, a few ships will be heading back in short order to assist in the cleanup. The amphibious ships USS Kearsarge and USS Arlington, along with hospital ship USNS Comfort, have all loaded up on supplies and have put out to sea.

General Atomics says it is launching new, heavier planes from its EMALS carrier launcher. The launches are taking place on land, and won’t be attempted on board the $13 billion Ford for some time, however.

The Navy hasn’t done a two-carrier deal since the Reagan buildup of the 1980s, when the Nimitz-class carriers being built, the state of the industrial base, the size of the budget, and the statutes governing shipbuilding were all very different. So how would it work today?