The Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Dr. J. Michael Gilmore, has joined the Inspector General in criticizing the war fighting capability of the newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
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By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Aidan P. Campbell [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The Jun. 28 memo was sent by Gilmore to the Pentagon and Navy’s weapons buyer Frank Kendall and Sean Stackley.
Gilmore pointed out that four major systems on board the warship are unreliable and the carrier will struggle to generate the flight sorties required during war time.
The four systems are: Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG); the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS); the AN/SPY-3 radar and the weapons elevators.