Rs2,008 bn US aircraft carrier isn’t ready to defend itself, tests show

WASHINGTON: Three combat systems on the $13 billion (Rs2,008 billion) USS Gerald R. Ford have been found deficient in recent tests, raising questions about whether the aircraft carrier will be able to defend itself, according to the Pentagon’s testing office, foreign media reported.

Navy evaluations of defensive capabilities for the costliest US warship revealed “deficiencies and limitations” with its radar, electronic warfare surveillance system and a ship-to-ship communications data network, said in an annual Pentagon report.

“These deficiencies and limitations reduce the overall self-defense capability of the ship,” Robert Behler, the Defense Department’s director of testing, said in the report, which offers an assessment of major weapons systems including the carrier and the F-35 fighter jet.

Defensive capabilities of aircraft carriers are always a concern because they are such large and relatively slow-moving targets. Behler said the Navy hasn’t budgeted funds to conduct three of four additional tests planned using a specialized “self-defense” testing vessel.

“If the Navy does not conduct all of the remaining events, testing will not be adequate to assess the operational effectiveness of the CVN-78 combat system,” Behler wrote, using the Ford’s official designation.

In particular, the electronic warfare surveillance system built by Lockheed Martin Corp. “demonstrated poor performance that prompted the Navy to delay additional operational tests until those problems were corrected,” the test office said.

William Couch, a spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command, said in an email that the Ford’s crew “continues to operate and to test an aircraft carrier that has dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling and aircraft launch systems that will bring significant efficiencies and cost savings” over previous Nimitz-class carriers.