USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford-class aircraft carrier of the US, has left Newport News port in Virginia to begin preliminary sea trials. According to a statement from Huntington Ingalls (HII), engineers will check the operation of key systems and components in this first sea trip.
HII describes this as an important milestone, reflecting the efforts and commitments of shipbuilding participating units, contractors and crews. The company expressed its expectation that the test trip will be safe and achieve the planned results.
Detailed information about the systems on the USS John F. Kennedy has not been released. According to military experts, the ship has some changes compared to the first Ford-class ship, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
Mr. Joseph Trevithick, editor of the war zone military website, said that the noteworthy point is that USS John F. Kennedy used AN/SPY-6(V)3 radar instead of the dual-band radar that had many problems on its predecessor, causing the top structure of the two ships to be different.
The Pentagon ordered the construction of the USS John F. Kennedy in 2013. The warship was started in 2015, launched 4 years later and was expected to be handed over in 2022. The US Navy initially developed a handover plan in 2 phases, allowing the ship to be commissioned when all features are not fully completed.
The US Congress then required the USS John F. Kennedy to be able to operate the F-35C stealth fighter immediately upon commissioning, causing the delivery schedule to be postponed to 2024.
The US Navy continued to adjust the timeline twice, to July 2025 and then to March 2027. In the 2026 fiscal budget proposal, the US Navy explained that the postponement was to complete the advanced steering cable system and continue the advanced weapons lift program.
The US Government Accountability Office believes that the US Navy is at risk of not being able to receive ships before July 2027, due to manufacturing challenges that also affect the USS Enterprise. The AAG, EMALS and AWE systems have caused much controversy, especially during Mr. Donald Trump's first term, although the US Navy affirmed that it has made progress in overcoming them.
The cost of manufacturing the USS John F. Kennedy has also increased significantly. The US Congressional Research Service once estimated the ship's value at about $11.3 billion, then increased to more than $13 billion.
The US Navy is expected to buy 6 more Ford-class aircraft carriers in the context of gradually eliminating the Nimitz class, in order to meet the requirement to maintain at least 12 aircraft carriers according to legal regulations.
