Spiraling costs for a new generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers could derail the Navy’s ability to deliver before the first ship is ever deployed.
Navy officials have pushed back the expected completion date for the lead vessel CVN 78 in its planned series, the Gerald R. Ford, from September 2015 to March 2016 and increased estimates of construction costs from $10.5 billion to $12.9 billion since 2008, according to the Government Accounting Office.
But increasingly complex work on the Gerald R. Ford means “cost increases beyond the current $12.9 billion cost-cap appear likely,” GAO said.
What’s more, the Navy has attempted to soften the sharp increase in construction costs by delaying work on some aspects of the ship until after it has been “delivered,” the nonprofit watchdog group Project on Government Oversight said.
Once CVN 78, also known as the USS Gerald R. Ford, is officially completed and a total “price tag” for the ship has been reported, the Navy will go back and finish those parts of the ship without counting what it spends on the delayed work as part of total construction expenses, POGO said.
“In essence, the Navy will have a ship that is less complete than initially planned at ship delivery, but at a greater cost,” GAO said.
The nonprofit encouraged Congress to rewrite the Ford budget agreement to include the cost of all deferred work that the Navy had originally promised to complete before delivery. By doing so, lawmakers would force the Navy to come to Congress to ask for a higher budget cap instead of finding ways to mask the “true cost” of its ships, GAO said.
With the Gerald R. Ford nearly 80 percent complete, work has begun on the second ship, dubbed the John F. Kennedy. The Gerald R. Ford is under construction at the Newport News shipyard in Virginia.
The Navy eventually plans to invest more than $43 billion to build and test three Ford-class carriers, which will run on nuclear power and will serve as the “future centerpiece of the carrier strike group,” according to GAO.
In its budget request for 2015, the Navy asked for $15 billion for its shipbuilding efforts, which include its stated goal of growing the naval fleet from 290 ships to 306, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
CBO projections indicate the Navy’s present expansion plan will cost an average of $22 billion per year between 2015 and 2030.
Ford-class carriers will boast a number of improvements over the Nimitz-class ships that the Navy uses presently, requiring 700 fewer crew members to operate while improving the speed at which planes can launch, according to the Navy.
But GAO warned that the Ford-class ships “may not achieve improved operational performance over the Nimitz class of aircraft carriers as promised” for years, if ever.
Budget officials have advocated against building any additional Ford ships. CBO estimates that canceling a plan to order the USS Enterprise in 2018 and another carrier in 2023 could ultimately save the government nearly $20 billion.
According to POGO, the Navy could offset the cost of the Ford-class series by retiring some of its Nimitz-class carriers earlier than scheduled.
