Aircraft Carrier’s Cost Draws U.S. Lawmakers’ Concerns

A House panel expressed concern that costs for the U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier continue to increase, even as lawmakers accepted the service’s request for a $1.1 billion increase in a cost cap imposed by Congress.

The House Armed Services Committee’s seapower panel today said it accepted the Navy’s $1.7 billion proposal for new carriers in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 as well as an increase in the maximum total cost of the first vessel, the Gerald R. Ford, to $12.9 billion from $11.8 billion.

The panel “remains concerned about the continued escalation in costs associated” with the Ford “and negative consequences associated with this continued escalation on the entirety of the ship construction accounts,” members said in a statement outlining their decisions on the annual defense authorization measure.

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