Today's carrier force--and tomorrow's

Sea Power, Jun 2001 by Truver, Scott C

The Case for the Carrier

Being Transformed by "Leap-Ahead" Technology

The Department of Defense continues to peer deeply into the future to ferret out threats to U.S. interests and to identify military requirements and the platforms, systems, and technologies needed to meet those threats. A sharp focus has been on ways to "leap a generation of military technology." So far the White House has not announced exactly how to capture such "leap-ahead technologies" affordably or quickly, while at the same time delivering on other campaign promises and continuing to meet today's defense needs. Nevertheless, the nation's aircraft carrier forces have become one of several focal points in the debates.

Still, in times of international crisis the president continues to ask--"Where are the carriers?" For President George W. Bush, the first such "crisis" (never officially described as such) was the April confrontation sparked by the mid-- air collision of a Navy EP-3E aircraft and a Chinese F-8 fighter. To ensure that future presidents will have the carriers when and where they are needed, the Navy and Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) have put in place a well-conceived program to take advantage of leading-edge technologies to deliver a revolutionary sea-based naval aviation force in an evolutionary and affordable way.

Whether the Bush administration, and those that follow, will embrace the Navy's carrier program remains to be seen. But it is clear that currently approved Navy acquisition programs will need a long-term political and fiscal commitment.

An Evolutionary Revolution

"We have reached the end of the line in the Nimitz [CVN 68]-class carriers," according to Rear Adm. Roland B. Knapp, program executive officer for aircraft carrier programs. "The ninth Nimitz-class carrier--Ronald Reagan [CVN-76]--is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, and in January we awarded the contract for the tenth Nimitz-class carrier, CVN-77, which will be the 'transition ship' to a revolutionary next-generation carrier class, CVNX.

"Although a highly successful design," Knapp continued, "until recently the most we have been able to do is work on the margins of the CVN 68, which were all but 'frozen' when Nimitz delivered in 1968." Hamstrung for nearly three decades by extraordinarily constrained aircraft carrier research-and-- development (R&D) resources, Knapp admitted, each successive ship in the class "has in reality been a 'modified-- repeat,' and sometimes new equipment was incorporated only because in-service equipment was no longer available."

"Until recently" means the Ronald Reagan, according to Thomas Schievelbein, NNS chief operating officer. "Beginning with Reagan," he explained, "we have had the chance to introduce more advanced systems than in previous Nimitz-class ships. This process continues seamlessly through CVN 77 and into CVNX1 and CVNX2."

Knapp concurred. "We finally have sufficient R&D funds--and, importantly, the promise of funding stability--to carry out an evolutionary program that will get us from CVNs 76 and 77 to a revolutionary CVNX to meet the needs of the 21 st century."

"We are leaping several generations of carrier technology in the progression from the Nimitz-class carrier design through CVN 77 and to CVNX," said Adm. Frank L. Bowman, the director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion. "We are taking good advantage of major technological improvements in several generations of submarine nuclear-propulsion plants, from the Los Angeles and Ohio classes in the 1970s to the Virginia-class submarines that will soon join the operating forces. These improvements will be captured in the CVNX1 to provide a revolutionary design for the reactor and propulsion plant, resulting in a better warfighting ship while lowering life-- cycle costs."

A Two-Track Plan

Since 1993, the Navy has pursued a two-track plan to modernize its carrier forces and to ensure that future carriers and air wings are completely integrated "systems of systems" that can serve throughout the 21 st century. Originally, the Navy was intent on producing a "clean-sheet" design--hurdling a modified-repeat CVN 77 to a revolutionary design for the CVNX. That approach proved to be unaffordable, and the service subsequently crafted an affordable three-ship program, beginning with the "transitional" CVN 77 and spanning 18 years of innovation through CVNX1 and CVNX2.

As outlined by Scott Stabler, NNS vice president for aircraft carrier construction, CVN 77 will in 2008 replace the oil-fired USS Kitty Hawk (launched in 1960). CVN 77 will incorporate several new technologies and systems, including a new integrated warfare system, and a redesigned island as well as a new multifunction radar (MFR) and a volume search radar (VSR). Both radars are being developed in collaboration with the Zumwalt-class (DD 21 land-attack destroyer) program, A new high-efficiency/low-cavitation propeller design also is planned that, Knapp noted, will be "the first new carrier propeller since the USS Forrestal reached the fleet in 1955."