US Navy’s next supercarrier USS John F. Kennedy begins sea trials amid carrier gap.

On January 28, 2026, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) departed Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin builder’s sea trials.

On January 28, 2026, the future aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) departed Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin builder’s sea trials. The underway period marks the supercarrier’s transition from dockside testing to open-water evaluation under the shipbuilder's responsibility. Trials follow initial nuclear propulsion testing conducted in the James River in September 2025.
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The construction of the USS John F. Kennedy began on July 20, 2015, at Newport News Shipbuilding, where structural assembly continued through 2019. The ship was launched on October 29, 2019, and christened on December 7, 2019, after which extensive outfitting followed over several years. (Picture source: HII)

In a tweet, HII announced that the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) left Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin builder’s sea trials, initiating its first sustained period of at-sea testing. The departure marked the transition from dockside activity to open-water evaluation under shipbuilder responsibility. The departure represents the second major step toward acceptance and delivery within a four-month span, following recent progress achieved in late September 2025, when the carrier completed its first nuclear propulsion testing in the James River, including initial reactor and propulsion checks, while maneuvering under tug assistance. That earlier activity confirmed basic propulsion functionality before the ship returned to the pier for further preparation. 

The construction of the USS John F. Kennedy began following contract awards in 2009, with physical assembly beginning after keel laying in August 2015 at Newport News, Virginia. Structural completion progressed through the late 2010s, culminating in the ship’s launch in October 2019 and christening in December 2019. Following launch, the carrier entered a prolonged outfitting and systems installation phase that extended over several years. This period included the integration of propulsion, electrical distribution, aviation systems, sensors, and internal ship services. As the second unit of the Gerald R. Ford class, CVN-79 incorporated design changes and refinements informed by experience with the lead ship, contributing to a longer post-launch completion phase than originally planned. 

The construction schedule was repeatedly adjusted as integration challenges accumulated and program decisions altered the work scope. An earlier delivery target of July 2025 was revised after continued difficulty integrating and certifying new systems central to flight operations and ship functionality. A major program shift occurred in 2020, when the Navy replaced a dual-phase delivery concept with a single-phase delivery approach. That change moved substantial work into the construction period, adding about two years to detailed design and build activities. Tasks that would previously have been completed after delivery were instead incorporated before acceptance. This decision reduced post-delivery modification requirements but extended the overall timeline leading to sea trials.

Three areas have remained central to the remaining schedule pressure, notably the Advanced Arresting Gear, the Advanced Weapons Elevators, and the radar configuration. The Advanced Arresting Gear replaces older hydraulic arresting engines with an electromagnetic energy-absorbing system designed to recover aircraft with landing weights exceeding 30 tonnes, while reducing stress loads on airframes and arresting cables to support higher recovery rates per day and accommodate future aircraft types without mechanical redesign. The Advanced Weapons Elevators replace cable-driven elevators with electromagnetic linear motors to move ordnance directly from magazines to the flight deck, significantly reducing transfer time per load.

In addition, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) integrates the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, combining three AN-SPY-6(V)3 fixed S-band arrays with the AN-SPY-3 X-band radar, providing continuous 360-degree coverage, improved detection of small and low-observable targets, and greater sensitivity than Nimitz-class carrier radars. The certification of each of these systems is crucial, because they define whether the carrier can safely launch, recover, arm, and protect aircraft at the operational tempo required by the U.S. Navy. The Gerald R. Ford class represents a comprehensive redesign of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers compared with the Nimitz class. Although displacement and dimensions remain in the same range, Ford-class carriers are designed around the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System instead of steam catapults, enabling more precise launch energy control and reduced mechanical stress on aircraft.

Design targets indicate a sustained sortie generation rate of about 160 sorties per day, with surge capacity above 270, compared with about 120 sustained and roughly 240 surge sorties for Nimitz-class carriers. Electrical generation capacity on Ford-class ships is roughly three times higher than on Nimitz-class ships, driven by the two Bechtel A1B reactors with an estimated thermal output of about 700 megawatts each and an electrical generation capacity per reactor projected near 300 megawatts, compared to the two A4W reactors on a Nimitz-class carrier, which historically supplied around 100 megawatts each. Crew size is reduced by several hundred personnel through automation and redesigned internal systems.

Moreover, the repositioned and smaller island improves flight deck flow compared with the Nimitz layout. The USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) has a full-load displacement of about 100,000 tons and a length of 337 meters with a 78-meter-wide flight deck and a 41-meter waterline beam. Propulsion and power are provided by two A1B reactors driving four shafts with sustained speeds in excess of 30 knots and a nuclear operating interval measured in decades before mid-life refueling. The ship’s electrical generation plant is sized to supply roughly 600 megawatts of service power combined, significantly above older carrier service generation, enabling electromagnetic aircraft launch, advanced sensors, and high-load service systems. Planned complement is approximately 4,660 personnel, including ship’s company, air wing, and staff.

Both Nimitz and Ford classes are designed to operate more than 75 aircraft with surge capacity approaching the low-90s, depending on mission requirements, but the USS John F. Kennedy is built to routinely support F-35C Lightning II fighters alongside F/A-18E-F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2 Hawkeyes, CMV-22 logistics tiltrotors, MH-60 helicopters, and unmanned aerial systems such as the MQ-25. Earlier Nimitz-class carriers were not designed to operate F-35C or large unmanned systems without modification. To improve their effectiveness, three features are central: the increased electrical generation of the Ford class, and its electromagnetic launch and recovery systems, are intended to support a broader range of aircraft weights and mission profiles, focusing on operational flexibility rather than increasing the absolute number of aircraft.

The flight deck layout also emphasizes improved aircraft flow and reduced congestion. Ordnance handling on CVN-79 uses electromagnetic weapons elevators linking deep magazines to the flight deck, intended to maintain high sortie rates in sustained operations. Defensive and sensor systems on USS John F. Kennedy are specified within defined engagement envelopes rather than offensive reach figures. The layered air defense system includes two Mark 29 launchers for RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSMs), each launcher with eight missiles, providing a maximum engagement range of about 50 kilometers (27 nautical miles), and two Mark 49 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers, each with 21 missiles for an effective engagement range of about 7 to 9 kilometers.

Phalanx close-in weapon systems and .50 caliber machine guns extend point defense out to visual surface ranges, within about 1.5 to 2 kilometers. The radar suite, including AN/SPY-6(V)3 and AN/SPQ-9B arrays, supplies continuous 360-degree detection and tracking for engagement guidance and situational awareness. The current timeline places builder’s sea trials in early 2026, preliminary acceptance expected in mid-2026, and formal delivery scheduled for March 2027. This schedule coincides with a period in which the U.S. Navy's carrier numbers will fall below long-standing planning levels due to timing mismatches between retirements and new deliveries. USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the lead ship of her class with a designed service life of about 50 years, is scheduled to begin deactivation in 2026.

Her removal from the active inventory will reduce the carrier fleet from 11 to 10 hulls until USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) arrives in 2027, leaving about a year with one fewer available carrier. The practical effect of this reduction means that at any given moment, fewer than the total fleet are fully capable or deployed, and global demand for carrier presence often exceeds available assets. During early 2026, there were periods when no U.S. carrier strike groups operated in the Middle East region, a historically continuous theater of carrier presence, because they were redistributed to the Indo-Pacific and other priorities. Beyond hull counts, extended deployment durations and maintenance backlogs further constrain surge capacity, with only a subset of carriers typically at sea at any given time.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.