Overview
- HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding announced Saturday that the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) finished acceptance sea trials after at‑sea testing of key ship systems and components.
- The trials brought together shipbuilders, sailors assigned to Kennedy and Navy personnel to test propulsion, navigation, radar and other core operations at sea.
- With acceptance trials complete, the next formal step is preliminary acceptance so the Navy can start underway test and evaluation of mission‑unique systems such as electromagnetic launch and arresting gear and upgraded weapons elevators.
- Delivery and entry into service remain conditional on the Navy’s test results and resolution of any remaining Ford‑class integration or certification issues that have affected earlier ships in the class.
- CVN 79 is a roughly 100,000‑ton, 1,100‑foot Gerald R. Ford‑class carrier built to modernize carrier capability; the program’s scale and technical complexity will shape shipyard workloads, fleet timing and the planned delivery window in 2027.