USN delays sea trials for lead Ford-class carrier

摘要

US Navy (USN) officials released a statement on 22 September announcing a delay in sea trials of its new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), the lead ship in the USN's Ford class, is 93% complete at Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HⅡ's) Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia, and is scheduled to be delivered on 31 March 2016. "The navy has identified a slight deterioration in the required progress on the CVN 78 shipboard test programme. As a result, the sea trial schedule will be delayed about six to eight weeks. The exact impact on ship delivery will be determined based on the results of sea trials," Commander Thurraya Kent, spokesperson for the USN's assistant secretary of the navy for research, development, and acquisition, said in the statement. "This prudent step provides the most affordable path to delivery. All the work and any associated schedule delays are being managed within budget and below the USD12.887 billion cost cap."