US Navy’s ‘most lethal combat platform,’ the carrier USS Gerald R Ford, is being sent to the Caribbean

By Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) — The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, billed by the US Navy as “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal combat platform in the world,” is being sent to the Caribbean as the Trump administration ramps up military pressure on Venezuela over alleged drug trafficking.

Here’s a look at the Ford and the military assets it will bring to US operations in the region.

With a displacement of more than 100,000 tons and a length of 1,100 feet (334 meters), the Ford is the largest warship the US has ever put to sea.

Commissioned in 2017, it’s the first of its class, the successor to the Navy’s 10 Nimitz-class carriers, the oldest of which will be retired next year.

It carries a crew of almost 4,600, including its air wing. That’s about 20% less personnel than the Nimitz class, which the Navy says is possible because of more efficient systems on the Ford.

Those efficiencies are what make the Ford the most advanced carrier in the world and result from its two nuclear reactors, whose exact specs are classified but that put out three times the electrical power of those on the Nimitz-class ships, according to the Navy.

That extra power enables the Ford to operate the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS). Using magnets instead of steam to power the ship’s catapults gives the Ford the ability to launch aircraft faster and with heavier weapons and more fuel, increasing the range and lethality of its fighter jets.

The same science applies to its 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators, which use electromagnetic motors rather than hydraulics, meaning it can move munitions more quickly from magazines to the flight deck and loaded onto aircraft.

The ship also boasts the Navy’s Advanced Arresting Gear, the system which essentially grabs the tailhook of aircraft with wires when they touch down on its flight deck. The Navy says the digitally controlled system allows for increased sortie rates and lower energy consumption.

The Ford’s flight deck is about four feet wider than the Nimitz class, and its “island” – the portion of the ship rising above the flight deck – is smaller and set farther back, giving more space for easier handling of aircraft movements.

The sharp teeth of the Ford are the F/A-18 fighter jets in carries.

The twin-engine Boeing aircraft can carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-ground and anti-ship missiles as well as laser-guided bombs. They have a maximum combat range of 1,250 miles (2,011 kilometers), according to the Navy.

The Ford also carries electronic-jamming aircraft, airborne early warning and control planes, cargo and passenger planes and helicopters.

But the Ford doesn’t carry the Navy’s newest stealth fighter jet, the F-35C. Modifications needed to support the fifth-generation aircraft are not expected to be made until a yet-to-be-determined future maintenance period.

Getting the Ford into fighting shape was a struggle for the Navy. Though it was commissioned in 2017, it didn’t make its first deployment until 2022 as the service struggled to work out kinks in its advanced systems.

The ship made its first combat deployment in 2023, an eight-month cruise that saw it spend time in the eastern Mediterranean after the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel.

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