Navy Delays Carrier’s Combat Tests, Weapons Tester Says

The U.S. Navy is inappropriately delaying or scaling back $70 million in needed combat testing of the USS Gerald R. Ford, an aircraft carrier that may cost $14.2 billion, in the name of cutting costs, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons tester.

A test that would “rigorously evaluate the ship’s ability to withstand shock and survive in combat” would be postponed until a second carrier in the new Ford class is built and may not be completed for seven years, Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, told Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in a July 12 memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

Gilmore’s objections add to criticism of the carriers for their increasing price tag as well as their potential vulnerability to rival militaries with expanding arsenals of ballistic and cruise missiles, undersea mines, submarines, drones and cyber weapons.

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