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Aircraft Carrier Delayed by Budgeteers (From CBS Radio “Eye on the World”)

By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute.

November 18, 2024 – Will Congress or the new Trump team fix the Biden administration’s shock decision to halt procurement of aircraft carrier CVN-82?  Stopping for two years could be catastrophic.  As I told CBS Radio, about 2,000 companies contribute to building an aircraft carrier, and “some of those long-lead suppliers may go out of business if there is a big gap.”  In a few years, we may not have enough aircraft carriers to cover all the hotspots in the world.

“The other shocking thing to me is, the Biden administration has used aircraft carriers,” I told hosts John Batchelor and Gordon Chang.  “They had five different carriers rotating just through the Red Sea and North Arabian Gulf station this year to take care of the Houthis and keep a lid on Iran.  So, the demand signals are very, very high for carriers.  It’s a perplexing, strategic mistake, I think, by the Biden team to try to put off buying the next one.”

The Navy’s plan was to buy long-lead procurement parts for the next carrier in FY 25 and purchase the whole ship in FY 28. The Navy in its budget decided to delay the next aircraft carrier buy until 2030.  The Trump administration will review this decision.  The money in question to get going on CVN-82 is roughly $550 million in advanced procurement funding, according to CRS analyst Ron O’Rourke. Advanced procurement buys the first parts needed to start building the carrier.

We know the Chinese are building more aircraft carriers. Their newest carrier has better catapults and arresting gear and is ready for high sortie rates.  At a moment when China is rushing to perfect and build carriers, why is the US delaying that next ship down at Newport News?

Big picture, the problem is the FRA, which led the Services to stuff in money for the current year while raiding programs later in the five-year plan. The total pricetag for a Ford-class carrier is about $14 billion. Not bad, when you consider these ships last 50 years.  The carrier pair CVN-80 and CVN-81 were purchased in late January 2019.  CVN-80 was delayed due in part to a break in the supply chain during COVID.