The U.S. Navy currently has the largest number of aircraft carriers on the planet. The country has a total of 11 aircraft carriers in active service, and all of them are nuclear-powered aircraft carriers with a displacement of more than 100,000 tons.

The United States Navy is currently the country with the largest number of aircraft carriers on the planet. The country has a total of 11 aircraft carriers in active service, and all of them are nuclear-powered aircraft carriers with a displacement of more than 100,000 tons.

Its 11 aircraft carriers include: 10 "Nimitz" class aircraft carriers, namely the USS Nimitz, USS Dwight Eisenhower, USS Carl Vinson, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Abraham Lincoln, USS George Washington, USS John C. Stennis, USS Harry S. Truman, USS Ronald Reagan, and USS George Bush;

There is also 1 "Ford-class" aircraft carrier , named ford number .

Among them, Ford-class is the first next-generation aircraft carrier developed by the U.S. Navy. The ship was launched in October 2013 and officially entered service in July 2017. Its entry into service replaced the first nuclear-powered ship in the United States that was retired in the same year. The position of the powered aircraft carrier Enterprise (the ship is Kitty Hawk class, CVN-65) will be replaced by the Ford-class aircraft carrier in a "one-for-one" manner in the future. It has been in service in the U.S. Navy for a long time. 50 years of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers (the first Nimitz aircraft carrier entered service in 1972) various types of aircraft carriers.

According to the plan, the U.S. Navy will build 9 aircraft carriers of this class in the future. In addition to the Ford, the John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier (replacing the Nimitz) started construction in August 2015 and will be completed by the end of October 2019. It will be launched and is expected to enter service around 2024. In the short-term plan, the United States has listed the construction time of the other three Ford-class aircraft carriers. Among them, the third CVN-80 Enterprise (replacing the Eisenhower) started construction in April this year, and the fourth CVN-81 Doris M The construction date of the USS Le (replacing the USS Carl Vinson) is scheduled for early 2026. The name of the fifth ship (replacing the USS Theodore Roosevelt) has not yet been determined. The construction start date is estimated to be around 2027, when all 10 aircraft carriers will be completed. Around 2058.

The John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier under construction CVN-79

The construction and operating costs of the Ford-class aircraft carrier

The Ford-class is the most advanced aircraft carrier ever built by the U.S. Navy. Of course, advanced technology means that the cost of this aircraft carrier will not be Too cheap. Although the US military has deliberately controlled costs, the construction cost of the first USS Ford is still as high as 13.3 billion US dollars. It is also one of the most expensive ships in the history of US Navy aircraft carrier construction. (However, it is not the most expensive single weapon of the US military. The most expensive weapon currently known is the Columbia-class strategic nuclear submarine first boat that is about to enter service. Its total cost is conservatively estimated at around US$15.1 billion.)

So this How was the $13.3 billion spent?

As the first ship of the Ford class, approximately US$5.6 billion of the cost of the ship was used for initial research and development, development of new technical systems and overall design costs. The actual construction cost was approximately US$7.7 billion; (both expenditures exceeded Budget, totaling approximately US$2.8 billion)

In terms of subsequent construction, the cost of the second CVN-79 is estimated to be US$11.3 billion, and the prices of the third and fourth ships are around US$12 billion.

Based on similar cost calculations, the cost of completing the construction of 10 Ford-class aircraft carriers by the U.S. Navy is estimated to be between 120 and 130 billion US dollars;

In terms of operations, according to the data currently provided by the U.S. military, the average daily normal cost of a Ford is is US$6.5 million, with annual operating costs of US$2.37 billion.Calculated based on 50 years of service, the total cost of a single aircraft carrier during its service is about 118.6 billion US dollars (excluding the cost of replacing nuclear fuel in the middle of service), and the operating costs of 10 aircraft carriers list Calculate it yourself!

Since the cost is so high, it must have a lot of "excellence", right?

As one of the major maritime combat platform projects promoted by the U.S. Navy, the Ford-class aircraft carrier has a lot of improvements compared to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, such as:

• First of all, it is its ejection and arresting system;

This class The aircraft carrier is the first aircraft carrier in the world to adopt the electromagnetic catapult and advanced arresting device. The Ford's electromagnetic catapult was successfully developed by the American General Company in 2010, named EMALS, and was launched on the ship in May 2013;

set The total weight of the electromagnetic catapult system is only about 20 tons, taking up less space, requiring fewer operators, and its reliability is significantly improved compared to the steam catapult ;

In terms of efficiency, the catapult can The energy output is accurately adjusted according to the quality of the fighter to be ejected to adapt to different speed requirements. The ejection speed of EMALS ranges from 28 meters to 103 meters/second, which can be adjusted at will within this range. This is a performance that traditional steam catapults do not have; the maximum output power of

EMALS is 122 megajoules, which is more efficient than steam catapults. Higher, and the energy utilization rate can reach about 90%.

However, the stability of the electromagnetic catapult currently equipped by the Ford still needs to be improved. According to previous testing and usage data, the failure rate of EMALS is around 1/240, which is much higher than the US Navy expectation. 1/1200.

The advanced blocking device was also developed by General Motors. Its general principle is actually similar to the traditional blocking cable . It just replaces the past hydraulic pump with a motor and adds a computer control system. Compared with a simple The system is smarter and requires fewer operators, but stability issues remain to be seen.

• Second, uses a more technologically advanced nuclear reactor;

The nuclear reactor of the Ford aircraft carrier is a specially developed A1B reactor, designed and produced by Bechtel Corporation;

This type of reactor is compared to the one used on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier For the A4W reactor, its output power has increased by about 25% to 700 megawatts (two units);

In addition, because A1B is the latest developed product, its core density is higher and its volume is more compact. It is about 40% smaller than the A4W, the maintenance workload is also reduced by about 30%, and the number of operators is reduced by 50%;

Another benefit of this type of reactor is that the nuclear fuel only needs to be replaced once during the 50-year life of the Ford. Can.

• Third, a multi-band radar is installed;

There are currently two sets of radars carried on the USS Ford aircraft carrier, namely the AN/SPY-3 X-band multi-function radar and an AN/SPY-4 S-band Search radars. These two sets of radars were originally developed for the DDG-1000 "Zumwalt" class destroyers. They are characterized by their small size and powerful functions.

• Fourth, the configuration of "large" deck + electromagnetic ejection + 11 elevators has greatly improved the dispatch efficiency of the ship carrier-based aircraft

The flight deck area of ​​the Ford aircraft carrier is about 20,000 square meters, which is smaller than that of Ni The Mitz-class has increased by about 11%. Coupled with the electromagnetic catapult and 11 elevators (please ignore those elevators that are still unusable), this class of aircraft carriers is much more efficient in taking off and landing carrier-based aircraft. Improvement;

In the past, the daily number of carrier-based aircraft takeoffs and landings of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers was generally maintained at about 120, while the Ford-class can reach about 160 sorties. In wartime, this efficiency can be increased to a maximum of 270 sorties/day;

In addition, due to the reduced space occupancy in the design of many systems, the USS Ford aircraft carrier has a qualitative improvement in bomb-carrying capacity compared to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. It can carry about 6,000 tons of weapons and ammunition on a single voyage, which is the best weapon for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. About twice that of the Mitz class.

• Fifth, has a high degree of automation and requires fewer personnel

The Ford aircraft carrier has a high degree of automation and is equipped with a new integrated combat command system. The equipment on the ship is fully networked and computerized, and the personnel on the ship are fully managed. The demand is greatly reduced compared to the Nimitz class. The ship's current full complement of personnel is about 4,200, while the Nimitz class is 5,680.

• Sixth, other aspects

In other aspects, the Ford aircraft carrier adopted a smaller bridge , increased stealth performance, strengthened its own defense capabilities, and reserved battle positions for laser weapons . The living environment of the crew has been improved.

The carrier-based aircraft configuration of the USS Ford aircraft carrier

In addition to these improvements, I believe that what you are most concerned about is the number of carrier-based aircraft and other aircraft carried by this type of aircraft carrier?

The carrier-based aircraft configuration of the USS Ford aircraft carrier is approximately:

It can carry four fighter squadrons in peacetime, each of which is two F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet" squadrons. It is equipped with a total of 24 carrier-based aircraft, two Each F-35C squadron is equipped with 20 carrier-based aircraft, and the total number of carrier-based aircraft used for attack missions is 44;

also has an electronic warfare squadron, equipped with 5 EA-18G "Growler" electronic warfare carrier-based aircraft ;

There is also a early warning aircraft squadron, equipped with 4 of the latest model E-2D "Hawkeye" fixed-wing early warning aircraft;

In addition, the USS Ford aircraft carrier also carries 6 SH-60B "Sea Hawk" helicopters and 2 C-2A Greyhound transport aircraft.

Of course, this is just the normal configuration. In wartime, the ship can carry up to more than 90 carrier-based aircraft, which means it can also add three additional fighter squadrons.

This is the basic data of the most advanced aircraft carrier currently in service. Although the ship is seriously overdue in the construction and testing process (6 years), and the budget has also experienced several additions, its title of "No. 1 in the world" and overall Its combat effectiveness is still beyond the reach of other countries.

Compared with our Fujian ship, there is still a big gap in some fields. This is an undeniable fact! After all, people have been "playing with aircraft carriers" for a hundred years, and our aircraft carrier has only been in operation for a long time. Those who say that the Fujian ship can compete with the Ford, please be rational and don't be too immersed in your own performance. , we still have a lot of work to do if we want to surpass the number one in the world.