GAO: Carrier USS Enterprise Will Be Delayed for Years
13th June 2025
The program office has emphasized that USS Ford was a first-in-class hull, with the inherent issues that come with a first-of-a-kind vessel, and that the teething problems with her new technology were being worked out for the follow-on carriers. But in its annual assessment of defense procurement programs, GAO reports that the Navy expects significant additional delays to future hulls in the series.
Continued issues with the weapons elevators aboard second-in-class CVN 79 could put the planned July 2025 delivery date for the vessel at risk, the program office reported. And the delivery date for CVN 80, the third Ford-class, has been pushed back to May 2030 – more than two years later than the Navy expected.
The problem, according to GAO, is in the availability of materials and skilled labor. HII Newport News has “persistent shipyard workforce issues” that the program office is trying to fix by revising schedules and creating incentives for workers, GAO said.
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