# Gerald R FORD CI NUC Aircraft Carrier CVN 78-80 — Program Element 0604112N

**Program element:** 0604112N  
**Component:** U.S. Navy  
**Appropriation:** 1319 — RDT&E, Navy  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604112N

## Summary

U.S. Navy requests $111.2M in FY2027 (down from a FY2026 peak), before stepping down 49% across the five-year plan. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the House funded it in full; the Senate funded it in full; House appropriators funded it in full. RTX / Raytheon leads the industry work.

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 91.6 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 112.7 |
| FY2027 | Request | 111.2 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 74.4 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 61.3 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 55.6 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 56.7 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 111.2 | — |
| House NDAA (HASC) | 111.2 | +0.0 |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 111.2 | +0.0 |
| House Approps (HAC-D) | 111.2 | +0.0 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (2)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2208 | CVN 21 | 83.9 | 90.4 | 81.3 | −10% |
| 4004 | EMALS | 7.7 | 22.4 | 30.0 | +34% |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 2208 — CVN 21

This project provides the development of aircraft carrier specific technologies, the infusion of the ship technology base into existing and future aircraft carriers, and the potential realization of subsystem design capabilities not currently feasible. All systems developed in this project support current or emerging requirements and other promising systems technologies for insertion into existing and new aircraft carrier designs. The emphasis is directed toward developing ship hull, mechanical, propulsion, electrical, aviation, and warfare systems to significantly improve aircraft carrier affordability, manpower requirements, survivability, and operational capabilities required to meet existing and pending regulations and statutes critical to the operation of future aircraft carriers. This project also encompasses those tasks required to support CVN 78 Class procurement, including, but not limited to engineering support, programmatic and program support, logistics support, modeling and simulation, test and evaluation, manpower and program related studies, and design support systems, such as the Integrated Digital Environment (IDE).

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** RTX / Raytheon (24.8, 31%), HII (20.3, 25%), CACI (4.3, 5.3%), COMOPTEVFOR (3.3, 4.0%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVN 78 Class Digital Transformation | 33.3 | 18.5 | 8.6 |
| CVN 78 Class Test & Evaluation (T&E) | 18.5 | 33.1 | 45.3 |
| CVN 78 Class Transformation and Affordability | 10.6 | 12.9 | 7.8 |
| CVN 78 Class Systems Analysis & Total Ship Integration | 21.6 | 25.8 | 19.6 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

### Project 4004 — EMALS

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is an advanced technology system developed as part of, and integrated on new FORD Class Carrier ships, beginning with CVN 78. EMALS provides better control of applied forces, both peak and transient dynamic loads, improved reliability and maintainability, increased operational availability, and reduced operator and maintainer workload. The EMALS program will undergo future system improvements to address safety, obsolescence, and reliability, to include but not limited to Automated software testing, Electrical Isolation, Advancing Additive at Large Scale to Address Readiness and Sustainment (AALSTARS), Block Switch Controller (BSC) Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), Software Support Activity (SSA), Autosuspends, Maintenance Laptop, Catapult Status Dashboard (CSD), Windows 10 End of Life Transition, and EMALS Server & PC-104 Obsolescence, and other emergent requirements. Automated software testing development provides for rapid, repeatable tests, resulting in higher quality software. Automated testing enables rapid diagnosis of system faults and decreases troubleshooting response time for the fleet. EMALS is a software intensive system and highly dependent on reliable software operation. The readiness and mission benefits include the ability to provide the fleet with affordable, quality, well-tested software capable of launching and recovering aircraft on Ford-Class carriers. Development of Electrical Isolation provides for EMALS capabilities to continue launch operations while being able to isolate catapults for regular maintenance, in turn improving maintenance cycle times. This provides readiness and mission benefits to enable continued operations and increases system mission capability. Implementing the AALSTARS initiative will demonstrate alternative manufacturing methods of select EMALS components. This will reduce manufacturing lead time and costs for highly complex, long lead time items. Developing BSC CPLD provides additional space on a critical control card to allow for future firmware and logic updates in order to ensure timely functionality and to support future changes. This also addresses a known obsolescence issue.

**Named R-3 performers** (share of this project's FY2027 R-3 total, so they need not reach 100%)**:** General Atomics (19.0, 63%), NAWCAD Lakehurst (10.9, 37%).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| EMALS System Improvements | 7.7 | 22.4 | 30.0 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Where the FY2027 request goes

| Category | Share | $M |
|---|---|---|
| Industry primes | 82% | 91.6 |
| Government labs & warfare centers | 13% | 14.6 |
| Other / unspecified | 4.5% | 5.0 |

**Top named industry performers:** RTX / Raytheon ($24.8M, 22%), HII ($20.3M, 18%), General Atomics ($19.0M, 17%), NAWCAD Lakehurst ($10.9M, 9.8%), CACI ($4.3M, 3.8%).

> R-3 exhibit contract funding, not USAspending obligations.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is an advanced technology system developed as part of, and integrated on new FORD Class Carrier ships, beginning with CVN 78. EMALS provides better control of applied forces, both peak and transient dynamic loads, improved reliability and maintainability, increased operational availability, and reduced operator and maintainer workload.

The CVN 78 is the first ship of the Ford Class of aircraft carriers designed to replace the ships of the NIMITZ Class. The CVN 78 features a new nuclear propulsion and electrical generation/distribution system, new electromagnetic aircraft launching system (EMALS), advanced arresting gear (AAG) system, all electric auxiliaries, warfare system improvements, survivability enhancements, improved weapons handling, and improved aircraft servicing. These design features result in lower manpower and total ownership costs as compared to the NIMITZ Class.

## Related program elements

- [0604522N — Air & Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) System](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604522N) (Navy)
- [0604261N — Acoustic Search Sensors](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604261N) (Navy)
- [0202834F — Aviation Support Equipment Modernization](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0202834F) (Air Force)
- [0607865A — Patriot Product Improvement](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0607865A) (Army)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604112N (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604112N")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*