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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Friday, July 22, 2016

Navy's $12.9B Carrier Can't Launch Planes



A Government of Idiots
All of World War II was fought and finished in the 
time it takes us to build one single aircraft carrier.


(Newsmax)  -  The Navy's newest aircraft carrier isn't ready for warfare.

The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford -- the most expensive warship ever built -- may struggle to launch and recover aircraft, mount a defense and move munitions, according to the Pentagon's top weapons tester. On-board systems for those tasks have poor or unknown reliability issues, according to a June 28 memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

The USS Gerald R. Ford was christened in 2013. (AP)


"These four systems affect major areas of flight operations," Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, wrote Pentagon and Navy weapons buyers Frank Kendall and Sean Stackley. "Unless these issues are resolved, which would likely require redesigning" of the aircraft launch and recovery systems "they will significantly limit the CVN-78's ability to conduct combat operations," Gilmore wrote, using a technical name for the carrier.

The reliability woes mean that delivery of the Ford -- the first of three carriers ordered up in a $42 billion program -- will probably slip further behind schedule. The Navy announced last week that the ship, originally due by September 2014, wouldn't be delivered before November this year because of continuing unspecified testing issues.

A prolonged delay could also hamper the military if a new conflict arises.

"Based on current reliability estimates, the CVN-78 is unlikely to conduct high-intensity flight operations" such as a requirement for four days of 24-hour surge operations "at the outset of a war," Gilmore wrote.

As delivery of the Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. vessel approaches, "my concerns about the reliability of these systems remain and the risk to the ship's ability to succeed in combat grows as these reliability issues remain unresolved," Gilmore said.

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