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US Navy newest aircraft carrier to begin sea trials
On Jan. 28, 2026, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the U.S. Navy’s second nuclear-powered Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier steamed out to sea for sea trials ahead of its much-anticipated arrival to the fleet in 2027, as the photos in this post show.
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the ship’s manufacturer, announced in a post on X that Kennedy left Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia, for initial trials.
“Today, our nation’s newest aircraft carrier, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), departed our Newport News Shipbuilding division to begin builder’s sea trials. These trials will test important ship systems and components at sea for the first time,” the post reads.
As already explained, Kennedy is facing a two-year delay and for this reason the US Navy will field just 10 aircraft carriers for nearly a year.
In fact, according to the Navy’s 2026 budget estimates, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier now isn’t on track for delivery until March 2027.
“The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) [the system used to catch aircraft landing on the carrier’s deck] certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) [the system that moves ordnance through the ship] work,” reads the latest FY 2026 shipbuilding budget book.
US Navy newest aircraft carrier: lessons from building USS Gerald R. Ford
Those two features are new systems incorporated into the Ford class.
According to Stars and Stripes, it’s not clear how the US Navy operations in multiple theaters, including the Asia-Pacific, eastern Mediterranean Sea and Middle East, could be affected by the delay.
The service currently fields 11 aircraft carriers with USS Nimitz (CVN-68) scheduled to be decommissioned in May 2026. Nimitz was commissioned in 1975 and was originally scheduled to be retired this year. Nevertheless, she had had its service life extended amid Ford-class carrier delays.
HII-Newport News Shipbuilding is applying lessons from building the lead ship to the successive ships in the class, a spokesperson for the company said.
The lead ship in the class, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) faced delays too because of the difficult in installing and integrating the 11 weapons elevators into the ship. Also, the AAG system has faced developmental delays.
CVN-79 and CVN-80 delays
The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is facing a nearly one-year delay too according to the latest budget books: the carrier is now slated to deliver in July of 2030 instead of September 2029.
Kennedy was slated for a 2022 delivery when the carrier was christened at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in December 2019. But the Navy at that time was still pursuing the dual-phase delivery plan, in which Newport News would build most of the ship, pause the work, and then install additional systems later.
The goal of the dual-phase delivery was to save the Navy money on construction schedules in the yard while avoiding significant overlap between Kennedy entering the fleet and USS Nimitz (CVN-68) leaving, which would strain the service financially and in manning. The Navy at the time also said it would allow the shipbuilder to install updated electronics onto the carrier. Under the dual-phase approach, Kennedy would have received retroactive modifications for the F-35C after delivery.
But the Navy’s newest aircraft carriers not having the ability to field its fifth-generation fighters angered lawmakers. After Congress mandated that Kennedy have the ability to field the F-35C Lightning II before finishing its PSA, the service in 2020 ditched the dual-phased delivery strategy.
The Navy then projected Kennedy’s delivery for 2024 as a result of the shift to a single-phase approach. The service continued to project a June 2024 delivery through its FY 2023 budget documents.
The second aircraft carrier in the Ford Class
Kennedy is the second aircraft carrier in the Ford Class, the first new class in more than 40 years.
CVN-79 is also the second aircraft carrier to honor President John F. Kennedy for a lifetime of service to the nation. The first USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) aircraft carrier served the fleet for over 50 years before decommissioning in 2007. John F. Kennedy wore our nation’s uniform as a Navy Lieutenant during World War II before serving as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 to November 1963.
At 1,092 feet in length and 100,000 tons, CVN-79 incorporates more than 23 new technologies, comprising dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems. These innovations will support a 33% higher sortie generation rate at significant cost savings when compared to Nimitz-class carriers. The Gerald R. Ford class also offers a considerable reduction—approximately $4 billion per ship—in life cycle operations and support costs compared to the earlier Nimitz class.
The new technology and warfighting capabilities that John F. Kennedy brings to the fleet will transform naval warfare, supporting a more capable and lethal forward-deployed US naval presence. In an emerging era of great power competition, CVN-79 will serve as the most agile and lethal combat platform globally, with improved systems that enhance interoperability among other platforms in the carrier strike group and with the naval forces of regional allies and partners.
Photo credit: Matt Hildreth/HII / Huntington Ingalls Industries
