The Cutting Edge Technology That’s Building the Navy’s 3rd Ford Class Carrier

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By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) Progressing quietly beneath the radar clutter and aside from all the ongoing discussion about just what the future may hold for aircraft carriers, the Navy’s 3rd Ford Class carrier is powering along toward future war. 

While there is naturally much focus upon the first-in-class USS Ford, which is nearing its first deployment, as well as the USS Kennedy, the Enterprise (CVN 80) is slated for delivery by as soon as 2028. Construction on the ship began in 2017, and builders are now performing early manufacturing and structural fabrication, Huntington Ingalls Vice President of New Construction Aircraft Carriers, Lucas Hicks, told The National Interest in a written statement. 

Most of the technologies are expected to be quite similar to the first two Ford-class carriers, yet they will likely integrate more quickly given that the Navy has had practice with the Kennedy and Ford. There are also new shipbuilding methods which have been progressing throughout the trajectory of Ford-class development, according to Hicks, who said HII is incorporating a number of lessons learned from building the Ford and Kennedy.  The “build strategy” improvements, he said, including more outfitted superlifts, described at larger and more complete than on prior carriers.

“It will be the first aircraft carrier built completely using digital drawings and procedures rather than traditional paper work packages and products. The use of digital data and digital tools is more user-friendly and intuitive, making the execution of shipbuilders’ work more efficient,” Hicks explained. 

Some of these construction innovations have already been underway with the USS Kennedy, the second Ford carrier slated to hit the ocean in the next few years. It involves a process Newport News Shipbuilders, a division of HII, describe as “modular construction” wherein ship compartments are assembled together before moving them to the dock to expedite the building process.  Smaller segments of the ship are welded together into a structural “superlift,” as Hicks described with the Enterprise, to advance construction before the ship is lifted up into drydock.