The most expensive warship ever built has been delayed from hitting the front line because it is reportedly not ready for battle.
The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford Navy supercarrier – the first of three in its class with a total cost of $43 billion – could potentially struggle with planes landing and taking off, moving military weapons and being able to successfully defend itself, a memo obtained by Bloomberg News reads. …
‘These four systems affect major areas of flight operations,’ Defense Department Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Michael Gilmore wrote to Pentagon and Navy weapons buyers. …
‘The advanced arresting gear (AAG) cannot recover airplanes. Advanced weapons elevators cannot lift munitions. The dual-band radar cannot integrate two radar bands. Even if everything goes according to the Navy’s plan, CVN-78 will be delivered with multiple systems unproven.
Two years late and counting, far from working, and needing redesign. Sure it has some new technologies, but during WWII people didn’t mess up this badly — the US built a whole fleet of 40+ new aircraft carriers in less than two years after Pearl Harbor. The US military is in rotten shape now. Their fighter airplanes are mainly 40 years old and the replacements are either no longer in production (the F22) or perform so badly (the F35) the air-force generals prefer the 40 year old planes. The army is smaller than ever as Obama shrinks the budget. Meanwhile the Chinese steal their technology and are rolling out their own modern weapons. It’s like a bunch of corrupt nincompoops are in charge of the West.
