(ConservativeInsider.org) – The United States Navy recently deployed their most advanced aircraft carrier, called the USS Gerald Ford.
According to the Navy, the USS Gerald Ford is the first new aircraft carrier designed in the last four decades and cost over $13 billion to build. It was commissioned in 2017 by President Donald Trump. The aircraft carrier has new and advanced technology that other aircraft carriers lack and uses three times as much power as older models.
The USS Gerald Ford uses a new system to launch aircraft off the vessel, called the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS). The Navy says this puts less stress on the aircraft and will allow for more aircraft to take off, as it is much faster than the steam catapult systems used on earlier models of aircraft carriers. The ship also has a more advanced radar system that earlier models, called the dual band radar.
In a press release from the Navy, the USS Gerald Ford’s deployment involves almost 9,000 personnel, 60 aircraft, and 20 ships, with approximately 5,000 sailors onboard.
While the USS Gerald Ford was only expected to be deployed for training exercises, after the recent attacks from Hamas on Israel, the aircraft carrier is now in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Israel.
Aircraft carriers are typically deployed in what are known as “carrier strike groups,” consisting of the aircraft carrier, a fleet of support ships, and sometimes submarines capable of launching offensive attacks. The Navy has 11 carrier strike groups, many of which have more firepower than most small and mid-sized countries.
Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, said sending the strike group containing the USS Gerald Ford to Israel was to provide support for one the US’s closest allies. Austin also said that the US plans to quickly supply the Israeli military with additional equipment and resources to remind the world of the US’s “ironclad support” for the people of Israel.
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