The electromagnetic fortress on the way to Israel: a glimpse of the precious ghost in history

Unlike normal vessels, the “Ford” operates in an electromagnetic “ghost mode”; It turns off AIS (Automatic Identification System) systems and visible GPS transmitters, making it undetectable by civilian tracking sites or navigation apps.

It moves in space like a vast shadow, with its exact location known only to the fleet commanders, while it exhibits an impressive speed exceeding 30 knots (about 56 kilometers per hour), an almost imaginary engineering achievement for a vessel weighing about one hundred thousand tons.

The current market value of the “Gerald Ford” puts it on par with the defense budgets of entire countries. The cost of building the first unit in the series is estimated at 13.3 billion dollars, an amount that officially makes it the most expensive aircraft carrier in history. If you add to that the research and development costs of the entire series, which amounted to approximately 37 billion dollars, you get an engineering project whose budget crosses the limits of imagination.

The high cost is due to the implementation of breakthrough technologies that have never been tried before, ones designed to ensure that the ship can serve the United States for the next 50 years, while allowing for future technological upgrades without the need for a massive structural change.

The construction of the “Ford” was a labor of thought that lasted over a decade at the “Newport News” shipyards in Virginia. The designers used the most advanced 3D computer models to plan every millimeter of the ship, which is 337 meters long and 76 meters high.

One of the most significant structural changes compared to the aircraft carriers of the previous “Nimitz” series is the location of the “island” – the command and control structure on board. In the “Ford”, the island is smaller and placed further towards the stern, which allows much greater maneuvering space for the aircraft on the flight deck and optimizes the arming and fueling processes.

The operational capabilities of the “Ford” are unprecedented. It is capable of carrying on board over 75 aircraft, including attack aircraft, electronic warfare, command and control and helicopters. Thanks to the high automation and state-of-the-art weapons transportation systems, the ship can reach a rate of 160 sorties a day in routine, and in emergency situations even increase the rate to 270 sorties a day.

The advanced weapons elevators, which operate on the basis of linear electromagnetic motors, make it possible to raise weapons from the deep ammunition stores directly to the planes within a few minutes, which significantly shortens the turnaround time of each plane on board.

About 2,600 crew members serve on board the ship as part of the ship’s permanent crew, and when you add to that the personnel of the air wing and the aid teams, the number of people on the floating city reaches about 4,500. Living conditions have been significantly improved compared to the past; Instead of mass dormitories, the teams are divided into smaller, quieter living units, which include sitting areas equipped with wireless Internet access.

For a medical team located in the middle of the sea, the “Ford” offers a medical facility at the level of a modern medical center. The floating hospital includes an operating room, an intensive care unit, a pharmacy, a clinical laboratory and an emergency room, staffed by 11 medical officers and 30 medics skilled in trauma care and emergency medicine.

But even the 13 billion dollar monster has shortcomings and faults that have often embarrassed the Pentagon. The “birth cords” of the new systems were long and painful. The electromagnetic launch and braking systems suffered from high failure rates during the development stages, causing years of delays in the ship entering full operational service.

The importance of the “Gerald Ford” when it approaches the shores of Israel is first and foremost strategic and deterrent. Its presence in the region gives the United States a multidimensional attack and defense capability, from missile defense through the advanced dual-band radar system that detects threats at vast ranges, to the ability to launch a massive air strike.

The fact that the ship moves at such a high speed while maintaining contact and detection silence, makes it a flexible weapon that can appear at any point and change the face of the campaign. The “Ford” is much more than a ship; It is a symbol of technological supremacy that combines nuclear power, advanced aviation and advanced engineering, which is now waiting alert and ready in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.