Navy Advances Ford-class Aircraft Carrier Production with Enhanced Strategy

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By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

With China now already making progress on its third aircraft carrier and plans to build several more as quickly as possible, the US Navy is taking steps to ensure it stays on track with production and delivery of its emerging fleet of Ford-class aircraft carriers.

China’s Liaoning & Shandong Aircraft Carriers

China now operates two aircraft carriers, the Soviet-built Liaoning and its first indigenously-built carrier called the Shandong. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has already conducted dual-carrier patrols and power-projection drills operating both of these together, while also working to accelerate construction of a third carrier. 

China is known to have a large industrial base and shipbuilding capacity which it is leveraging to build its own fleet of carriers. The third Chinese carrier does not use a “ski-jump” kind of incline or curved take-off but rather appears designed to mirror the US Navy’s USS Ford with a flat carrier deck.

US Ford-class Carriers

While the US Navy operates a much larger carrier fleet and therefore operates with a much greater ability to project global power when compared with China, the service and Pentagon leadership are taking critical steps to ensure continued efficient production of its growing fleet of new Ford-class carriers. 

The Ford class introduces an entire suite of paradigm-changing technologies specific to Aircraft Carrier Wing power projection, and the Navy very much wants to stay on course with on-time, successful deliveries of its much needed new fleet of carriers.