Posted on 09/30/2013 7:33:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Rising from a dry dock, this is America's latest and possibly costliest piece of military machinery ever constructed.
The world's only superpower has released details of its new generation of aircraft carriers - the first of which costs a staggering $13billion - which it hopes will enable it to dominate any battlefield for decades to come.
But that sort of money buys an incredible amount of firepower, with the ship stuffed with cutting-edge and top secret technology.
When finished, the giant 1,106-foot USS Gerald R. Ford will be able to launch 220 airstrikes per day from its two runways, hold 4,000 sailors and marines, and be virtually invisible to enemy radar.
The Navy also plans to buy another three such carriers, at a cost of $43 billion, to complete its fleet.
But the project to build the most advanced aircraft carrier every made has come at a high price, with costs overrunning to the tune of nearly $3billion and major delays.
Beci Brenton, spokesman for Huntington Ingalls Industries, the maker of the ship, told FoxNews.com: 'The structure has been rearranged to accommodate new technology and meet all of the Navy’s operational requirements....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Does it trip down airplane stairs?
$13 billion? What happened to the $4 billion we were paying?
We do not need $13B carriers. For one thing, ICBMs are getting popular and no carrier can defend against them. Secondly, we’re broke as a nation. We owe 7 times more than we take in.
Probably already outdated before it is launched.
Submarines render these very vulnerable.
And we can’t afford three of them at $40 billion apiece.
(Consider how many cruise missiles that would buy.)
I dread the day when some dingbat sinks one
with a Russian or Chinese missile — costing us 4000 guys
and billions in hardware.
Does it hit people with golf balls?
A sitting duck.
>>>the giant 1,106-foot<<<
>>>invisible to enemy radar.<<<
LOL.
I’d like to see this thing take on Obamacare, the Department of Education, The Department of Energy...
Right now carriers are what a battleships were on the eve of WWII.
A cool looking targets for any near-peer adversary.
Capt. Chevy Chase, commanding.
” Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System “
One atmospheric burst will render this unusable.
Maybe they aren’t going to use it for the military per se, maybe it’s Washington, D.C. afloat.
Target...
Run Silent, Run Deep...
Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable.
Afraid you’re right.
rust on hull already
rust never sleeps
My first vote ever as a teenie was for Ford, made sense being in Mchigan.
I lost to Carter, it has been GAME ON ever since.
President Ford and Vice President Ford, served both capacities somewhat admirably at the time of serious peril.
Ford was never elected to either office, and yet our country survived.
This gummint shutdown is meaningless.
“One atmospheric burst will render this unusable.”
If that happens, the carrier will not be needed anyway.
When finished, the giant 1,106-foot USS Gerald R. Ford will be able to launch 220 airstrikes per day from its two runways, hold 4,000 sailors and marines, and be virtually invisible to enemy radar. The Navy also plans to buy another three such carriers, at a cost of $43 billion, to complete its fleet... costs overrunning to the tune of nearly $3 billion and major delays.Instead of representing overruns in billion$, they need to be measured in "Solyndras".
But how many aspirin factories and baby-milk factories in Somalia can it bomb at the same time a la Clinton?
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