President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is targeting the Navy’s Ford-class aircraft carriers for cost reductions and he will produce savings in the ship program just like he has with the Defense Department’s F-35 jet fighters.
Speaking at the Coast Guard Academy commencement address in New London, Conn., the president that the initial carrier in the Ford-class had its problems before he came into office but going forward the new carriers will be under budget and ahead of schedule, just remember that,” adding, “That will allow us to build more.”
The USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78), the first Ford-class carrier, is about $1.4 billion over its original cost estimate, with the current estimated procurement cost at $12.9 billion, according to May 12 Congressional Research Service report by naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke.
Trump, in a recent interview with TIME magazine, complained about the launching system that is planned eventually be installed on the Ford class carriers, calling the electromagnetic aircraft launching system “no good.” The EMALS system will replace the traditional pressurized steam used to power catapults on current carriers.
In his commencement speech, Trump didn’t mention specific systems on the Ford carriers, just that he will be targeting cost reductions.
“I won’t talk about how much I saved you on the F-35 fighter jet,” Trump told the graduating class. “I won’t even talk about it. Or how much we’re about to save you on the Gerald Ford, the aircraft carrier. That had a little bit of an overrun problem before I got here, you know that; still going to have an overrun problem. We came in when it was finished. But we’re going to save some good money.”
Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] is building the Ford-class carriers for the Navy. The CVN-78 is expected this month to begin acceptance trials with the Navy.
Trump previously called out the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and presidential aircraft Air Force One for cost overruns. Unit costs on the F-35A, the Air Force variant of the fighter, have been coming down according to previous plans and forecasts so it isn’t evident that the president has actually contributed to that drop.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft, speaking earlier in the morning to the cadets, highlighted the Trump administration’s commitment to fund new heavy icebreakers. He said the administration has fast-tracked plans for building the first heavy polar ice breaker.
The Coast Guard plans to build three heavy polar icebreakers and three medium polar icebreakers, Zukunft said. The service currently operates one of each type of icebreaker.