Construction of Fourth Gerald R. Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier for US Navy Delayed by Two Years

Construction of the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier for the US Navy, named Doris Miller (CVN-81), has been delayed by at least two years.

This was reported by USNI.

According to new estimates, the total construction time for the ship has increased to 15 years.

The delay is due to a series of technical challenges and disruptions in the supply chain for materials that have arisen in the US defense sector. The ship is being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard.

It was previously planned that the aircraft carrier would be delivered to the fleet in 2030, but the timeline has now been pushed back to 2032.

“The CVN-81 construction schedule has been impacted by a cascade of delays in CVN-80 construction at the shipyard,” Todd Corillo, HII’s spokesperson for shipbuilding in Newport News, told USNI News.

The publication notes that due to delays caused by the construction of the first ships in the series, the company is facing schedule setbacks for future hulls. It will be impossible to rectify this situation in the future due to an acute labor shortage and ongoing disruptions with suppliers.

The modern shipbuilding industry in the United States is in a state of deep structural crisis, which directly threatens the country’s defense capabilities.

The main obstacle is a severe shortage of skilled labor, as experienced specialists are retiring en masse, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract young people to the hard work at shipyards due to the low prestige of the profession and competition from the technology sector.

The situation is exacerbated by the deterioration of supply chains that took shape after the end of the Cold War, when the number of subcontractors dropped significantly.

Today, many critical components for aircraft carriers and submarines are produced by a handful of monopoly manufacturers, and any delay at such a facility halts the construction of the entire ship.

In addition, the infrastructure of public and private shipyards is outdated, as most dry docks were built in the last century and do not accommodate the dimensions of new ships like the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers or the Columbia-class nuclear submarines.

The Pentagon also frequently changes technical requirements even during the active construction phase, forcing engineers to redesign completed sections, leading to a sharp rise in costs and missed deadlines.

All of this has led to the US failing to meet even its most basic fleet modernization goals, jeopardizing strategic deterrence in the Pacific and its commitments to allies.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that the US Navy may enlist foreign partners to build warships in order to meet the fleet’s growing needs.