
The U.S. Navy and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) offered sharply different assessments of the first Ford-class aircraft carrier (CVN-78) July 12, with the Navy touting the ship’s “significant progress” and the powerful lawmaker blasting the program’s latest delay.As of June, the CVN-78 was 98 percent complete and had finished 89 percent of its shipboard testing, according to a statement from Capt. Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokeswoman. In addition, testing of the new electromagnetic aircraft launching system (EMALS) wrapped up in…