USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Papercraft Model 1:350 scale

18 Apr, 2022

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Papercraft Model

Get to know the USS Gerald R Ford, the US$13 Billion Aircraft Carrier

In 2017, it was a special time for the United States Navy (US) because they had their most advanced-generation aircraft carrier from the Ford-class, namely USS Gerald R. Ford, which took the name of the 38th president of Uncle Sam's country from 1974-1977.

USS Gerald R Ford is predicted to be codenamed CVN-78, which is included in the supercarrier category, and was built to replace the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), one of the aircraft carriers of the Nimitz class.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is in the same class as the USS John F Kennedy (CVN-79) which will be launched in 2020 to replace the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and is jointly built by Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia, United States. There is still another USS Enterprise (CVN-80) which will be launched in 2023 replacing the USS Dwight Eisenhower (CVN-69).

With a deadweight of more than 100,000 tons, the carrier measures 337 meters long, 76 meters high, with 12 meters to a maximum of 41 meters of that figure below the water surface. From the lowest to the highest deck, there are 25 decks on the USS Gerald R Ford.

It is powered by two A1B nuclear reactors made by Bechtel Corporation, instead of the A4W which the same company also built for the Nimitz class.

The Nimitz-class carriers are particularly well known, among this lineup are USS Nimitz (CVN-68), USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN-69), USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), USS John C Stennis (CVN-73), to USS George HW Bush (CVN-77).

Technically, the power from the two A1B nuclear reactors is channeled to four propellers capable of propelling the warship to a maximum speed of 30 knots per hour (56 km/hour) with an operational time of up to 50 years without changing fuel.

US President Donald Trump even used the USS Gerald R. Ford as a platform to promote his plan to strengthen his country's main weapon system.

The White House promoted the importance of defense equipment as sophisticated as the USS Gerald R. Ford, in addition to adding US$54 billion to the projected budget for the Ministry of Defense (Pentagon) or an increase of 10% over the previous year's budget ceiling. "To keep America safe, we must provide the men and women of the US military with the tools they need to prevent war.

If they have to, then they have to fight and they just have to win," Trump said in a speech on the USS Gerald R. Ford on March 2, 2017.

If each ship commander had two years onboard the warship, the carrier would be the office for 25 commanders at a time. The aircraft carrier is not intended to directly attack the target or the target relies on the weapons in its body, but by fighter planes in the air wing on the hangar deck.

According to various sources, the F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter fleet from Lockheed Martin would fill the hangars, but the delay in the completion of the F-35 series has a direct effect on system integration and operations with the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78). ).

For now, the most plausible list of fighters to deploy on deck and runway is the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler, Grumman C-2 Greyhound (light transport), Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawk. Eye (reconnaissance-command-early warning aircraft), Sikorsky SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter, and Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned fighter aircraft.

The 330-meter long runway will be ready to launch and hold an array of fighters to incoming and departing transport planes, as well as heavily armed drones. Several differentiators became the technological leapfrog for the Ford-class carrier with the Nimitz-class it replaced.

Among the important ones is the technology of the aircraft's ejection engine, which is called the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System aka EMALS. This system is said to be more efficient, more compact, more powerful, and easier to control and operate. He would be better able to catapult an airplane larger or smaller than the current one, which has so far been driven by a steam-based catapult system.

This will increase the operating life of the aircraft because the risk of a strong shock can be avoided. The EMALS system was first tested in June 2014 in trials of up to 450 throws on various types and classes of fixed-wing fighter aircraft, ranging from the F-A-18 Super Hornet, to T-45C Goshawk, C-2A Greyhound, E-2D Advanced Hawk-Eye, up to the F-35C Lighting II.

In principle, EMALS uses a linear induction motor that utilizes current to create a magnetic field that will move the catapult on the rails that run across the runway.

A proven count, the 91-meter-long rail is capable of throwing loads of up to 45 tons at a speed of 240 kilometers per hour. This is still coupled with the power from the aircraft engine itself which is set to maximum power.

On the other hand, when the airplane lands, it becomes the task of the Advanced Arresting Gear system, which relies on a hydraulic system. Compared to similar systems that have been in operation with various developments over the last 50 years, AAG uses electromagnetic fields to absorb energy controlled by aircraft engines.

This AAG system will stop the aircraft from moving more smoothly and safely; in the end, the operational life of military aircraft could be even longer. AAG is also said to require lower maintenance costs and less manpower.

Compared to the Nimitz class carriers, the Ford-class required “only” 508 officers and 3,789 personnel. As for the self-defense system, the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78) relies on anti-aircraft attack missiles, 2 units of RIM-162 ESSM from Raytheon, two units of RIM-116 RAM (also from Raytheon and collaboration with Ramsys GmbH, Germany), three Phalanx (a system for close-in weapons system), four M2 machine guns caliber 12.7 millimeters.

Also new and advanced is the AESA (active electronically scanned array search and tracking radar system) technology, a dual-band radar derived from the technology embedded in Raytheon's Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer.

This DBR operates by combining a multifunction X-band AN/SPY-3 radar and an S-band Volume Search Radar emitter, which is propagated via a phased array device. Three of the devices on the X-band are responsible for low-altitude detection and radar illumination, and the other three on the S-band are responsible for target search and tracking rather than the weather.

The interesting thing is that the design and construction of this Ford-class aircraft carrier use CATIA V5 release 8 fighter aircraft technology from Dassault Systeme, France. The design and planning of the carrier's construction can be done more efficiently and with precision, and the model can be built on a full scale.

This means that the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78) is the first model to be built on a full scale so that shipbuilders can build it on a modular basis, even if the development is necessary.

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Papercraft Model

Let's make a papercraft of the US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)".

The size is a 1/350 scale full hull model. The total length at the time of completion will be about 95 cm.

"Gerald R. Ford" is a state-of-the-art nuclear-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 2017.

Equipped with state-of-the-art equipment such as an electromagnetic catapult, a new landing braking device, and an advanced weapon elevator, it features a hull and bridge that emphasize stealth performance.

Download USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) papercraft model template and instructions via the link below:

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Papercraft Model