The command of the US Navy decided to use part of the components of the aircraft carrier Kennedy under construction for the early commissioning of the same type Gerald R. Ford. The fleet management called the cannibalization of the ship "a project management tool," Defense News writes.
The components of the power plant and elevator lifts for ammunition will be borrowed from the Kennedy under construction - exactly those units that Gerald R. Ford has not been able to solve for several years.
"None of the parts transferred to another ship will affect the readiness of the Kennedy aircraft carrier," said US Navy spokesman Captain Clay Doss. His colleague from the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard building the aircraft carrier noticed that the exchange of components is a common practice. It is planned to certify the construction of the ship in 2024.
Retired American naval officer Bradley Martin called the cannibalization of ships a bad habit, indicating that the Pentagon does not have reliable suppliers of spare parts for the fleet.
The lead nuclear aircraft carrier of the new Gerald R. Ford project was supposed to be fully ready in 2018, but due to numerous technical problems, the deadlines were postponed more than once. Experts point to a large number of new, poorly mastered technologies used in the creation of the ship. The Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy, Admiral Michael Gilday, named 23 technical solutions that created difficulties during the operation of the aircraft carrier. The main problems are the unreliability of the power plant units, elevator lifts for weapons, the system for receiving and sending aircraft.
Anton Valagin