Ability of NIMITZ and FORD Class Aircraft Carriers to Accommodate Future Air Wings

The current NIMITZ and FORD Class aircraft carriers efficiently accommodated and supported historically assigned air wings. However, it may not be correct to assume that just because it has historically been so it will continue to be so in the future. In fact, aircraft operating from USN carriers are now larger than in the past and are predicted to grow in the future. Following this trend, this report analyzed whether the current aircraft carrier can efficiently support the composition of the air wing expected about 2030. Considering variables such as the area required for stealth aircraft support equipment and the expected sizes of the next-generation aircraft, it is analyzed that the area occupied by the future air wing exceeds the limit of the optimum density that the current aircraft carrier can effectively support. To meet the optimum density limitation of current NIMIZ class carriers, there are ways to reduce the number of helicopters on board and compact or reduce stealth aircraft support equipment, or compact next-generation aircraft. If Navy cannot choose any of these, there is no other option than replacing all operational NIMITZ class with Ford class aircraft carriers.