U.S. aircraft carrier costs rising again, Navy budget shows
The cost of the Navy’s next three carriers is on the rise, due in part for installation of equipment and electronics to handle the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
The Navy’s latest 390-page fiscal year 2022 budget justification document calls for increased spending for the carrier John F. Kennedy’s electromagnetic catapult and arresting gear — systems that ran hundreds of millions of dollars over budget for the USS Gerald R Ford, the lead ship for the Navy’s new class of carriers.
All in all, the cost of the Kennedy, now more than 80% complete at Newport News Shipbuilding, will rise by $531 million, or 4.7% from the estimate in last year’s justification document, to $11.93 billion, the Navy now says.
The cost of the third carrier in the Ford class, the Enterprise, will rise $84 million, to $12.41 billion, while the fourth carrier in the class, the Doris Miller, will see a $33 million increase to $12.48 billion. Both ships are under construction at Newport News.
Read more: https://www.dailypress.com/business/shipyards/dp-nw-carriers-budget-20210607-u6axvzkpobhgpe7lrreb4coi5q-story.html
(Newport News Daily Press)