The U.S. Navy is at a crossroads, considering extending the operational service life of its aging fleet of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. With the lead ship of the class, USS Nimitz (CVN 68), approaching her 50-year life expectancy mark and with continuing delays to replace the Ford-class carrier, the high demand has been placed on the Navy to maintain the current number of carrier air wings.
The fiscal 2023 Navy budget already proposed extending the life of USS Nimitz for another deployment cycle, pushing its decommissioning back to 2025, the service official said the president’s budget request for maintenance and modernization. That same budget request may include the final decision on extending the life of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower beyond its projected end-of-service date in 2027, said the service officials. Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, until recently commander of Naval Air Forces said service life extensions would apply to every one of the Nimitz-class carriers: “Extending Nimitz, extending Ike, it’s going to happen for every Nimitz-class carrier.
The future of the Nimitz class and the continuing problems fabricating the second Ford-class carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), were among the hot topics at the recent Tailhook Symposium. The Navy’s current plan for the Nimitz, according to a report to Congress this past March 2023, calls for $200 million for extension work as part of a 5.5-month maintenance schedule.
Other panels continued to highlight carriers as a vital part of naval aviation. For example, a panel by Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, director of the N98 Air Warfare Division, reported that “Carriers are the linchpin of everything we do in naval aviation. Our requirements are designed and aligned within our air wings to provide the capability out to the CDRs’ combatant commands—our ability to conduct the mission.”
Two years after initial operational capability, the first in the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)-is forward deployed to the Mediterranean. The Ford class, while advancing technology such as the new electromagnetic catapult system within, has been fraught with delays and overruns financially. The second ship of the class, the USS John F. Kennedy, presents the same ordeal.
The Navy has also had problems with the midlife servicing of its ships. The USS George Washington (CVN 73) left its Refueling and Complex Overhaul process two years behind schedule. In response to these issues, the Navy is implementing a performance-based contract on the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) overhaul and is increasing the use of advanced procurement contracts to help reduce supply-chain lead times.
Demand for carriers remains robust: Even with the Ford and Eisenhower operating together in the Mediterranean, three hubs for a permanent carrier presence is still 15 carriers – a mark the Navy’s 11-ship fleet has never hit, even temporarily, since the Cold War’s end.
“It may be easier to keep a carrier in service than it is to decommission it,” Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told me. Dismantling a massive, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is a time-consuming, expensive, and highly complex task; it requires unique capabilities. The nuclear reactor has to be dismantled and then shipped to nuclear waste storage; in the meantime, the ship takes up vital space that is in the form of dry docks.
The Navy’s also taking some strain on its air wings: Whereas traditionally the service maintained one more carrier air wing than its total number of carriers, today it has nine air wings for 11 carriers. The result is a stressing of available aircraft, with the Navy shuffling aircraft around its squadrons to meet deployment needs.
The Navy is further making numerous decisions to account for the potential shortage with the help of unmanned aviation. Specifically, according to the 2022 Navigation Plan signed by then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, the intended prescription draws up 60% uncrewed carrier air wings in a 40% manned scheme. The plan is anchored in the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray, to be the pioneer of uncrewed carrier-based operations.
Determined in its resolve as ever, the Navy moves forward with the unwavering support of the commitment to sustaining the operational readiness of its carrier fleet and the needs demanded by the challenges of modern-day and future naval warfare.