Key Points and Summary – The USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is the Ford-class’s second act—bringing electromagnetic catapults (EMALS),
-Advanced Arresting Gear, weapons elevators, and a larger deck to push sortie rates higher.
-Built with modular “superlifts” and lessons from CVN 78, Kennedy swaps Ford’s pricey Dual Band Radar for the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), a GaN-based, SPY-6–lineage sensor that cuts cost while boosting commonality across carriers and amphibs.
-Add drone launch/recovery and next-gen comms, and CVN 79 arrives as a networked flagship designed to operate inside complex threat envelopes—replacing USS Nimitz and anchoring U.S. power projection into the 2050s.
USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79): The Ford-Class Upgrade That Matters
New high-tech surveillance radar, electromagnetic catapults, advanced arresting gear, and the ability to launch and recover combat-critical drones are merely a few of the technologies woven into the United States Navy’s arriving USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford-class carrier.
Now slated to arrive by 2027, the Kennedy will significantly enhance the US Navy’s power projection capabilities. The Ford-class carriers feature electromagnetic catapults, advanced weapons elevators, and a larger flight deck, enabling a higher sortie rate.
Anticipated Deployment
The deployment of the first-in-class USS Ford likely inspired further curiosity about the USS Kennedy. The USS Kennedy will replace the USS Nimitz, which is scheduled to retire by 2027. The Ford-class carriers will incrementally replace the existing Nimitz-class carriers on a one-to-one basis over the next 50 years or so.
US Navy and HII builders of the USS Kennedy sought to harvest lessons learned from the successes and growing pains experienced during the construction of the USS Ford. One successful technique used for the Kennedy’s construction included efforts to assemble compartments and parts of the ship before moving them to the dock, greatly expediting construction by allowing builders to integrate larger parts of the ship more quickly.
Building a New Aircraft Carrier
This technique, referred to by HII developers as “modular construction,” was also used when building the Ford; the process welds smaller sections of the ship together into larger structural “superlift” units before being lifted into the dry dock.
Construction begins at the bottom of the ship and works up with inner-bottoms and side shells before moving to box units, HII data explains.
Additionally, some of the design methods now used for the Kennedy include efforts to fabricate or forge certain parts of the ship—instead of casting them—because this approach makes the process less expensive.
New Radar on Ship
Years ago, the Navy decided to construct a new, highly sensitive ship-defense radar technology for its second Ford-class aircraft carrier.
This technology was designed to detect incoming enemy fire, anti-ship cruise missiles, and airborne threats, including attacking drones, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters.
The new radar, called the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, or EASR, is installed on the Kennedy, as well as several of the service’s amphibious ships, such as the USS Bougainville (LHA 8).
The decision for the new radar emerged from a special radar commonality and affordability study conducted by the Navy years ago, which examined technologies that would work across multiple platforms. The EASR is engineered as a 3-faced phased array radar designed to be adaptive and rotate.
(July 28, 2017) An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 approaches the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) for an arrested landing. The aircraft carrier is underway conducting test and evaluation operations (U.S. Navy photo by Erik Hildebrandt/Released) 170728-N-UZ648-161
EASR uses gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology and builds upon standard hardware, software, and processing elements of the Navy’s next-generation AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar now on the service’s Flight III DDG 51 destroyers.
EASR utilizes digital beamforming and advanced algorithms for operations in high-clutter, near-land electromagnetic interference environments, according to Raytheon data.
The AN/SPY-6 is described as being 35 times more powerful than most current ship-based radar systems; developers claim it enables the detection of objects twice as far away and half the size compared to existing radars.
In radar terminology, a 15-decibel increase with AMDR translates into roughly 35 times more power and sensitivity compared to the existing AN/SPY-1D radar.
USS John F. Kennedy vs USS Ford Radar
For cost and cross-fleet commonality reasons, EASR was chosen as the future radar for carriers and amphibious ships, even though the first Ford-class carrier uses Dual Band Radar.
The Dual Band Radar was originally slated for installation on 27 new, high-tech DDG 1000 destroyers. However, when the Navy changed its plans and decided to procure only three DDG 1000s, the price of the Dual Band Radar increased.
This led Navy developers to consider the mission requirements for carriers, as the surveillance functions of EASR are sufficient to meet the requirements of the Kennedy.
The USS Kennedy, much like the Ford, will likely travel in a Carrier Strike Group under the protection of heavily armed warships, such as DDG 51 Flight III destroyers, which are equipped with more advanced long-range radar intended to track and intercept ballistic missiles.
Carriers do not operate with Vertical Launch Systems and therefore do not use ballistic missile interceptor weapons such as the SM-3 and SM-6.
Navy developers argue that commonality and cost reduction are entirely consistent with integrating next-generation detection capabilities.
Furthermore, carriers do not require radar as sensitive and powerful as Dual Band Radar, in part because carriers typically have a destroyer or a cruiser nearby to provide a defensive radar envelope and help protect them.
EASR possesses some of the technical capabilities of the Dual Band Radar, including fire control radar capability.
However, engineering the new EASR for the USS Kennedy saved the Navy several hundred million dollars.
EASR is configured to perform the functions of existing ship radars, such as the AN/SPS-49 and the three-dimensional AN/SPS-48 anti-aircraft sensor currently on Navy destroyers and cruisers.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
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