Defense
Navy Sees 4-1 Odds for Budget Bloat on $12 Billion-Plus Carriers
- ‘A 20% confidence level is low,’ even for a carrier: analyst
- Targets of $12.2 billion and $12.9 billion deemed unlikely
The first carrier in the class, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is now a $13.3 billion vessel after an estimated $2.8 billion in increased costs, making it the world’s most expensive warship.
Photographer: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ridge Leoni/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
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U.S. Navy analysts are placing 4-to-1 odds against meeting cost targets of $12.2 billion and $12.9 billion for the last two aircraft carriers in the next-generation Gerald R. Ford class, the latest budgetary warning sign for one of the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program.
An internal Defense Department “information paper” prepared by the Navy and obtained by Bloomberg News sees just a 20% chance that the USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller will meet those goals.