Reference News Network, July 9 report: According to a budget document just disclosed, the delivery date of the U.S. Navy's latest "Kennedy" aircraft carrier may be postponed from this month to March 2027 due to production challenges.

The builder of the carrier, Huntington-Ingalls Industries, is facing problems with building and installing elevators used to transport ammunition to the flight deck.

The "Kennedy" aircraft carrier is expected to be delayed by 20 months, which is the latest in a series of delays affecting almost all major projects of the U.S. Navy.

U.S. Navy Secretary John H. Foley said during a recent congressional hearing: "All our projects are in a mess."

The "Kennedy" aircraft carrier is the second of four "Ford"-class carriers. Its predecessor, the "Ford" aircraft carrier, was delivered in May 2017, about 32 months later than planned, and did not have operational weapon elevators. These devices were only fully installed and approved for operation years later.

In a statement to Bloomberg News, the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command told reporters that for the "Kennedy" aircraft carrier, the Navy is "exploring the opportunity to receive the carrier preliminarily before its official delivery, and closely coordinating with stakeholders to ensure it transitions as quickly as possible into fleet operations, becoming a combat-capable carrier."

The Navy also stated that during the "Ford" aircraft carrier's 2024 operational deployment, its elevators had met all operational requirements, while "production challenges still exist on the 'Kennedy' aircraft carrier."

The U.S. Navy said, "The Navy and the prime contractor (Huntington-Ingalls Industries) are actively working to resolve these challenges to ensure the successful construction of the 'Kennedy' aircraft carrier."

Previously, Rear Admiral Casey Morton, the project director for the aircraft carrier, informed the Senate Armed Services Committee of the latest news on the delayed delivery of the carrier, but did not provide a specific delivery date.

A spokesperson for Huntington-Ingalls Industries, Todd Correro, said the company is focusing on "resolving the challenges affecting the production and supply base of the aircraft carrier project."

He said that the lessons learned from the construction of the "Ford" aircraft carrier have been applied to subsequent carrier constructions. However, he added, many of these lessons could not be timely applied to the construction of the "Kennedy" because the work on it had already reached a relatively advanced stage.

Ronald O'Rourke, a naval analyst at the Congressional Research Service, said: "The Navy spent a lot of time solving the elevator issues on the 'Ford' aircraft carrier. At the time, I understood from the Navy that the problem had been resolved on the 'Ford', and the process for elevator issues on subsequent carriers of this class would proceed more smoothly." (Translation/ Wang Qun)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7524896263091782170/

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