Latest news with #USSJohnF.Kennedy
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Navy secretary says need for new shipbuilding is a ‘national emergency' at local visit
Newly sworn-in Secretary of the Navy John Phelan visited Hampton Roads shipyards in Norfolk and Newport News on Wednesday as part of a tour that's taken him around the country. Speaking to media at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard after concluding his visit, Phelan emphasized the need for new investment in shipbuilding to meet the demands of the moment, calling it a 'national emergency.' He floated building ships overseas in partnership with foreign allies as well as using old shipyards and advancements in technology to shrink the 'footprint' of current shipyards to allow for expanded manufacturing of military vessels. 'I think we have grossly underinvested in this country and hollowed out manufacturing and that's been a real problem, and we now have a real demand signal for the industrial base – particularly for (submarines) and carriers – and so we're behind and now we have to catch up,' Phelan said. He said in order to create the workforce needed to spur this growth, it would require jobs programs that match the focus put on coding in recent years. 'We spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code, we're going to spend the next 10 teaching them how to use their hands,' Phelan said. 'That is going to be a critical skill set and I believe that we can create very good careers, longterm careers.' Phelan was sworn in on March 25 and is overseeing the Navy's $263.5 billion annual budget. Previously he was the founder and chairman of the Palm Beach-based private investment firm Rugger Management, and was co-founder and co-managing partner of MSD Capital. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Southern Methodist University. In talking to workers at different levels of the shipbuilding process, some common themes emerged including difficulties with parking. He said these conversations will inform his decision making going forward. Phelan said one of his main focuses on his visit was to check in on the construction of the Ford-class USS John F. Kennedy, which is three years behind schedule. He resisted attributing the delays to any one factor, saying he's still gathering information on the situation, but said he is 'optimistic' the issue can be resolved. 'I think it's a number of different factors, I'm still really formulating that. I think it's going to take a whole-of-government approach to fix,' Phelan said. Overall he said he was very impressed with Hampton Roads' shipyards, particularly the capacity to build nuclear powered supercarriers, calling them the 'backbone of our deterrence and the president's peace through strength initiative.' Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806,
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The US Navy is still grappling with elevator problems on its new Ford-class supercarriers
The US Navy's next aircraft carrier is almost finished but faces challenges with its elevators, among other technology. The advanced weapons elevators were previously an issue on the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford. Navy officials suggested in written testimony to Congress that they could affect the new USS John F. Kennedy. The US Navy next Ford-class aircraft carrier is just about done, but it could be held up by challenges with the elevators, Navy officers and officials said this week. It's a bit of déjà vu. The same technology was at the center of headaches for USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of the new class of Navy supercarriers, and now the elevators are a challenge as shipbuilders work to finish the next ship in the class. "The John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is nearly 95% construction complete and has a contract delivery date of July 2025," Navy officials said in a joint statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee seapower subcommittee's hearing on the state of nuclear shipbuilding on Tuesday. "However, we assess that significant pressure to that date." The officials cited issues with some of the CVN 79's technologies, namely the advanced weapons elevators and aircraft launch and recovery systems. They said the pressure to meet the contractual delivery date is driven by "critical path challenges, primarily in the Advanced Weapons Elevators and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment." The officials added that while "initial class design challenges are resolved," some of the "early class production-focused challenges and associated learning continue on CVN 79." The Advanced Weapons Elevators with electromagnetic motors, Advanced Arresting Gear, and Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System were issues during the development and construction of the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford, which faced delays and cost overruns mostly attributed to integration issues surrounding new systems and capabilities. The elevators on the Ford, for example, weren't installed when the carrier was delivered in May 2017, well beyond the original 2015 delivery goal. The first of 11 weapons elevators arrived in December 2018. The Navy secretary at the time, Richard Spencer, staked his job on fixing the Ford elevators in early 2019, but the problem persisted beyond the deadline. In January 2020, then-acting secretary Thomas Modly said that the issue had been "sort of a disaster" but noted the service was "getting after the problem." In their joint statement on Tuesday, Navy officials highlighted successful USS Gerald R. Ford deployments, indicating that the issue is in production, not design at this stage. They added that the lessons learned are being implemented on CVN 80 and 81. The Navy didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's query about the specific problems with the weapons elevators and potential delays to CVN 79's delivery. The Ford class' elevators are controlled by electromagnetic, linear synchronous motors, which effectively allow them to move faster and carry more ordnance. Nimitz-class carriers have weapons elevators that use pulleys and cables and can carry 10,500 pounds at 100 feet a minute. The Ford's, on the other hand, can carry up to 24,000 pounds at 150 feet per minute. Among the other new technologies on the Ford class, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, is also an upgrade, over the steam catapults on the Nimitz-class carriers. The system is designed for faster sorties of heavier aircraft but the technology saw questionable performance, as did the new advanced arresting gear for aircraft recovery. The inclusion of the elevators and EMALS was paired with overall ship layout changes as well. President Donald Trump has previously been critical of both the catapults and the weapons elevators on the Ford, expressing concern about the use of magnets in the advanced technology. The Navy officials who testified before Congress Tuesday said the "Navy and shipbuilder HII-NNS are hyper-focused on a CVN 79 delivery plan that results in the fastest path to a combat ready CVN, crew, and air wing." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Navy proposes to bring next-gen aircraft carrier to NBK-Bremerton
The U.S. Navy has proposed to station the new USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in 2029. The USS JFK is proposed to replace the USS Nimitz which is currently homeported at NBK-Bremerton and is scheduled to be decommissioned next year, according to the U.S. Navy. The Navy says NBK-Bremerton will begin electrical upgrades in 2026 to support the newer generation USS JFK. The USS Nimitz was commissioned in 1975 and has been deployed to conflicts around the world. It is the Navy's longest-serving aircraft carrier and has been homeported in Bremerton since 2015, according to the U.S. Navy The USS John F. Kennedy is the second aircraft carrier to honor the 35th president and has yet to be commissioned. The original USS JFK was decommissioned in 2007, according to the U.S. Navy
