Congress Fights For US Navy Ford-Class Aircraft Carriers

By Kris Osborn, Warrior President, Center for Military Modernization

“Five acres of sovereign US territory,” were words used by Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. to describe the irreplaceable value of US Navy aircraft carriers, symbols of US power and force-projection capacity.

Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., echoed this sentiment and closely aligned with Wittman’s sensibility by referring to the seriousness of the threat environment and a commensurate need to ensure stable funding for aircraft carrier construction. Kaine said the current funding impasse, which as pushed back funding for the next Ford-class carrier by at least two years, is in part due to spending caps put in place. During an event on Capital Hill, Kaine pledged to assure the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition that he and other members will endeavor to secure consistent carrier funding.

“Challenges are growing by the day in every theater, and we need to send the right demand signal. I don’t like that we are sliding backward. We are not going to meet our own needs or the needs of our allies unless we find a fix to this,” Kaine told an audience on the Hill.

Wittman described the need for carriers in the context of what he argued was an extremely dangerous modern threat environment. As part of this, Wittman cited a number of key variables, such as the pace at which China continues to build and add carriers. The Congressman, who is the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, cited Iran, China, Russia and other countries as extremely credible threats to take seriously.

“This is different than the Cold War. All of these individuals not only want to destroy us strategically, they want to destroy us economically,” Wittman said. “What are one of the strongest measures of deterrence? United States Aircraft Carriers. We want to make sure we continue this production pace.”

Any air campaign to counter a Chinese attack upon Taiwan would have little chance of success without US Navy aircraft carriers, a key reason why the US Navy conducts “dual-carrier” war preparation drills in the Pacific. Each carrier is capable of carrying as many as 90-aircraft, and the Ford-class in particular has a larger deck space enabling a 33-percent increase in sortie rate compared with previous Nimitz-class carriers. Electric elevators for re-arming ordnance and an electromagnetic catapult can streamline launching, refueling, re-arming and mission return rates. Two carriers therefore, could operate a massive air-campaign involving dozens of 5th-generation F-35Cs and other attack assets, something which would be well-positioned to interrupt or destroy a PLA-Navy amphibious attack on Taiwan or defend the Philippines, South China Sea or Japan.