US Navy Hardens USS Ford For Next-Gen Maritime Warfare

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The USS Ford is known as the flagship carrier in a new-generation of power projection capability with a 33-percent higher sortie rate than Nimitz-class carriers, Electromagnetic Launch System, paradigm-changing levels of on-board electrical power, advanced computer automation and electrical elevators for high-speed, efficient re-arming and refueling of fighter jets. The ship recently completed a critical deployment to the Mediterranean in support of deterrence operations aimed at preventing escalation of conflict in the region. 

However, a lesser-known yet equally vital element of the USS Ford is that the ship has been “hardened” for a new generation of maritime warfare with an upgraded suite of weapons and layered ship-defense systems. As part of Carrier Strike Groups, carriers often travel with the protection of destroyers, cruisers and support ships designed to fortify defenses for the ship, yet the ship itself is also engineered with advanced weapons and defenses designed for a modern threat environment.  Therefore, while the USS Ford benefits from the protection of destroyer-launched interceptor missiles, deck-mounted guns, EW systems and even lasers, the ship itself is armed with its own defenses. These include the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile and an “area” defense weapon called the Close-In-Weapons System which fires a Phalanx gun. 

A better-defended carrier is critical in a more modern technological environment wherein longer-range sensing and multi-domain networking now enable new concepts of operation and more distributed or dispersed formations. This means a carrier might be further away from its destroyers and cruisers in its carrier strike group in more disaggregated formations, a circumstance wherein it would benefit from upgraded ship-defenses capable of countering incoming threats and enemy attacks. 

Upgraded Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile

The USS Ford now deploys with the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block 2, or ESSM, a weapon designed to track and destroy incoming enemy supersonic missiles and anti-ship missiles, among other threats.

The ESSM Block 2 is engineered with what’s called an active guidance system, meaning the missile itself can achieve improved flight or guidance to its target by both receiving and actively sending electromagnetic signals, Navy and industry ESSM developers have told Warrior Maven in previous interviews.

The current ESSM missiles use what’s called a semi-active guidance system, meaning the missile itself can receive electromagnetic signals bounced off the target by an illuminator; the ESSM Block 2’s “active” guidance includes illuminator technology built onto the missile itself such that it can both receive and send important electromagnetic signals, Navy and Raytheon officials have explained.