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Feb. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. military is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to the Middle East as tensions with Tehran over its nuclear program ratchet up, President Donald Trump confirmed Friday.

Trump told reporters he’s sending the vessel because if the United States and Iran doesn’t “make a deal, we’ll need it,” The Hill reported.

The vessel and its supporting warships, which are in the Caribbean, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln in a trek that’s expected to take about three to four weeks, The Guardian reported.

“We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” Trump said in an interview with Axios on Tuesday.

An unnamed official said Trump made the decision to send the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East after his Thursday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. Southern Command said in a statement to The Hill that it was carrying out “mission-focused operations to counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere.”

“While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not. SOUTHCOM forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region.”

U.S. and Iranian leaders have been involved in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear arms program. Tehran has shown willingness to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions, but has declined to consider requests to scale back its ballistic missile arsenal.

The decision to send the Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG) from the Caribbean to the Middle East was made after the Navy’s top officer said he would give “push back” against such an order over concerns about the welfare of the crew and the condition of the ship after being deployed for so long. The carrier departed Norfolk last June for the Mediterranean. It was later dispatched to the Caribbean last October by President Donald Trump to take part in a mission that ultimately resulted in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Trump’s new deployment order for the Ford came as he is considering whether to attack Iran amid ongoing negotiations and after sending the Abraham Lincoln CSG to U.S. Central Command area of operations.

“I think the Ford, from its capability perspective, would be an invaluable option for any military thing the president wants to do,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), told a small group of reporters, including from The War Zone, last month at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium. “But if it requires an extension, it’s going to get some push back from the CNO. And I will see if there is something else I can do.”

Caudle didn’t provide any specifics about what actions he would take to forestall an extension.

Regardless, the order to send the Ford CSG to the Middle East will extend its time away from its homeport even further. The ship won’t even get to the region until near the end of this month and it’s unclear how long it will be needed there, although Trump has mentioned something of a loose timeline.

“I guess over the next month, something like that,” Trump said Thursday in response to a question about his timeline for striking a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly.”

There is also a chance that the Ford could be ordered to turn around should a deal be reached with Iran.

Trump also said it would be “very traumatic” for Iran should no deal be reached.

On Friday, Trump gave reporters his rationale for ordering the Ford to the Middle East.

“We’ll need it if we don’t make a deal,” the U.S. president told reporters.

“The strike group’s current deployment has already been extended once, and its sailors were expecting to come home in early March,” The New York Times, which was first to report that the Ford was ordered to the Middle East, noted. “The new delay will further jeopardize the Ford’s scheduled dry dock period in Virginia, where major upgrades and repairs have been planned.”

It is publicly unknown what discussions the CNO had with senior administration and Pentagon officials and whether he raised any objections or sought alternatives to keeping the Ford at sea longer than anticipated. We have reached out to his office and will update this story with any details provided. We also reached out to the White House and Joint Chiefs of Staff, which referred us to the CNO’s office.

At the SNA conference, Caudle emphasized that there is a price to be paid for the strike group after being away from homeport for more than 200 days under often intense conditions. That was almost exactly a month ago.

“I am a big non-fan of extensions, and because they do have significant impact,” Caudle explained. “Number one, I’m a sailors-first CNO. People want to have some type of certainty that they’re going to do a seven-month deployment.”

Beyond affecting people, extensions also have a detrimental impact on the ship in addition to its previously noted dry dock schedule.

“So now, when the ship comes back, we expected the ship to be in this level of state in which it was used during that seven-month deployment, when it goes eight, nine-plus months, those critical components that we weren’t expecting to repair are now on the table,” Caudle pointed out. “The work package grows, so that’s disruptive.”

In addition to the maintenance issues Caudle brought up at the SNA conference, the Ford also is also plagued by sewage issues.

You can read more about how detrimental deferred maintenance is to carriers — or any U.S. Navy warship for that matter — that get their deployments extended in our deep dive here.

It is not unusual for there to be two carriers deployed to the Middle East region. For instance, a year ago, the U.S. Navy had both the USS Harry S. Truman and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time, engaged in combat operations against Yemen-based Houthi rebels. However, the Navy has 10 active carriers after the Nimitz, the service’s oldest, returned to port in December ahead of a scheduled decommissioning. There are scheduling and logistical support limits to how many can be out at sea at the same time without massive disruptions down the line.

The USS Eisenhower, the last carrier to make an extended deployment, has seen its planned maintenance extended for a half year and counting as a result of the additional strain of being away from its home port for so long. The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget shows that work on the ship was supposed to have been completed last July, but it is still unfinished. The lack of availability reverberates across the rest of the fleet. That in turn limits the options commanders have when planning or preparing for contingencies and puts the overall carrier availability plan out of whack.

As for the rest of the fleet, three other carriers are in various maintenance periods taking them out of action for extended periods. In addition, the USS George Washington is forward deployed to Japan, two carriers are preparing for deployment and two are in post-deployment mode.

The move to send the Ford to the Middle East comes amid a growing buildup of forces ahead of a potential conflict with Iran. In addition to the Ford, the Pentagon is also dispatching a peculiarly small number of Air Force tactical aircraft to the Middle East, joining a limited number of aircraft already there on land and sea.

In addition to the Lincoln, there are also at least nine other warships in the region, including five Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers. Submarines are also there, but their presence is not disclosed, and there are more than 30,000 troops on bases around the Middle East.

During the first week of February, three U.S. Navy ships transited the Malacca Strait northbound with little fanfare, entering the Indian Ocean.

The trap was set. Expeditionary Sea Base USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5), embarked with U.S. special forces, and destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG… pic.twitter.com/HTVXqTCV4f

— Ian Ellis (@ianellisjones) February 11, 2026

Another CSG, with its embarked tactical aircraft and Aegis-equipped escorts, would certainly bolster America’s firepower in the Middle East. As we have frequently pointed out, even with the jets that are there and those arriving, there is not enough tactical airpower there now for a major sustained operation. A second CSG would provide significant help.

It remains unknown what orders Trump will give or when, but a second carrier strike group in the region gives him more options.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

New opinion poll finds seven in 10 US adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of Greenland issue.

Denmark’s prime minister and Greenland’s premier met ⁠with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and agreed that talks would be pursued on the running of Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump has threatened to take over.

Rubio held a 15-minute meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Greenland’s leader Nielsen said in a post on social media that during the meeting with Rubio, “it was emphasised that the conversations being made are the right way forward and the interests of Greenland were once again clearly highlighted”.

Prime Minister Frederiksen said on X after the meeting: “Constructive talk with Secretary of State Marco Rubio together with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Chairman of Naalakkersuisut, at the Munich Security Conference.”

“Work will continue as agreed in the high-level working group,” she said.

The meeting between the Danish and Greenlandic leaders and the US state secretary comes amid severely strained ties between Europe and Washington, and NATO allies, amid President Trump’s repeated threats to take over Greenland and criticism of European nations as “decaying” and “weak”.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said, “We’re negotiating ‌right ‌now for Greenland.”

“I ‌think Greenland’s going to want us, but we get along very well with Europe. We’ll see how it all works out,” he said.

After months of bellicose language regarding the US’s necessity to acquire Greenland, Trump abruptly stepped back from his threats last month, saying that he had reached an understanding with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that would give the US greater influence in the mineral-rich Arctic territory.

Late last month, the US, Denmark and Greenland also launched talks to find a diplomatic path out of the crisis.

Poll finds most US adults disapprove of Trump’s Greenland plan

The US administration has cited key national security concerns related to Russia and China to justify its demand to take control over Greenland and has accused Denmark, and Europe more broadly, of being unable to defend the strategic territory.

But, according to a new opinion poll conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Trump’s push to seize control of Greenland has gone down badly with the US public and members of his own party.

The survey, conducted between February 5-8, found that about seven in 10 US adults disapprove of how Trump is handling the Greenland issue – a higher disapproval rating than the share of those who dislike how he is handling foreign policy generally.

Even among Republican supporters, about half disapprove of his attempt to turn Greenland into US territory, according to the poll.

Sweden said on Thursday that it would send fighter jets to patrol Greenland as part of a newly launched NATO mission in the Arctic aimed at placating Trump’s concerns over the threats posed by Moscow and Beijing.

The government said in a statement that Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets would patrol Greenland as part of the newly-launched NATO mission, Arctic Sentry.

“As a NATO ally, Sweden has a responsibility to contribute to the security of the entire territory of the Alliance. The Arctic region is becoming increasingly important from a strategic perspective,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

In a separate statement, the Swedish Armed Forces said the fighter jets would be based out of Iceland, where six aircraft have been stationed since early February as part of the rotating incident response force, NATO Air Policing.

Swedish special forces would also be sent to Greenland to take part in training exercises for a couple of weeks, the military said.

The Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Truxtun collided with the support ship USNS Supply while the two were conducting an at-sea replenishment yesterday, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has confirmed. Both ships have continued to sail safely, but two sailors were injured.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the collision, which is said to have occurred somewhere in the Caribbean Sea.

The full statement from SOUTHCOM, as provided to TWZ, is as follows:

“Yesterday afternoon, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG103) and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) collided during a replenishment-at-sea. Two personnel reported minor injuries and are in stable condition. Both ships have reported sailing safely. The incident is currently under investigation.”

No further details have been provided yet about the extent of the damage to either ship.

At-sea replenishment, also known as underway replenishment, is an essential capability that provides a way for warships to receive additional fuel, munitions, and other supplies without having to visit a friendly port. This, in turn, can help ships transit greater distances with fewer interruptions or stay on station longer after arriving in an operating area.

The video below shows the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Barry conducting an at-sea replenishment with the Henry J. Kaiser class oiler USNS Rappahannock.

USS Barry Conducts Replenishment-at-Sea with USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204)

At the same time, by the Navy’s own admission, at-sea replenishment operations, which inherently involve ships sailing closely side-by-side, are complex and potentially hazardous, in general.

“Underway Replenishment (UNREP) is a critical (and often dangerous) operation to resupply ships at sea, and it carries inherent risks that must be carefully managed. The proximity of vessels, adverse weather, fatigue, and loss of situational awareness (to name a few) in this dynamic environment can risk personnel safety and mission success,” a 2024 dispatch from the Naval Safety Center explains. “Seemingly minor mistakes can turn into potential severe mishaps in seconds.”

On February 3, the Navy announced that Truxtun had departed its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for a scheduled deployment, but did not say specifically where the ship was headed. The ship subsequently returned to port for repairs to an unspecified piece of equipment, but was underway again by February 6, according to USNI News. The destroyer’s last deployment, which had taken it to European and Middle Eastern waters, only concluded in October 2025.

While Truxtun is said to still be sailing safely, it remains to be seen how its current deployment may be disrupted further by yesterday’s collision.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The United States has hosted its first critical minerals summit aimed at challenging China’s dominance of the global supply chain for rare earth elements. But political economist Stefan Zylinski warns that Global South countries are likely to bear the greatest cost from any plan conceived by the Global North.

An F-35C Joint Strike Fighter flying from the supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln has shot down an Iranian drone said to have “aggressively approached” the ship. Separately, American officials say that small boats and a drone belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) harassed a U.S.-flagged merchant ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. All of this comes amid a major ongoing U.S. military build-up in the region aimed squarely at Iran, as well as reports that American officials could be set to meet with their Iranian counterparts later in the week.

Reuters was first to report on the F-35C downing the Iranian drone, which was reportedly a Shahed-139. The Shahed-139 is a design roughly in the same class as the U.S. MQ-1 Predator, which could potentially carry small munitions. The Nimitz class USS Abraham Lincoln and elements of its strike group arrived in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility last month after being ordered to head to the region from the Pacific.

“An F-35C fighter jet from Abraham Lincoln shot down the Iranian drone in self-defense and to protect the aircraft carrier and personnel on board. No American service members were harmed during the incident, and no U.S. equipment was damaged,” U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said in a statement to TWZ. “The unmanned aircraft aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent.”

“USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was transiting the Arabian Sea approximately 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship,” Hawkins added. “The Iranian drone continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.”

What weapon the F-35C used to down the Iranian drone is unknown. The carrier-based version of the Joint Strike Fighter can be armed with AIM-9X Sidewinders and AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), and a 25mm gun pod, as well as various air-to-surface munitions. F-35Cs have been employed in the counter-drone role in the region in the past, downing uncrewed aerial threats launched by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen last year.

U.S. Marines also notably used a counter-drone vehicle lashed to the deck of the Wasp class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer to knock down an Iranian drone as the ship transited the Strait of Hormuz back in 2019. In that instance, the uncrewed aircraft was described as having come within a “threatening range” of the Boxer.

As a general aside, drones inherently present a lower risk of escalation because there is no danger of crew on board being harmed. This also has impacts on the risk calculus for employing uncrewed aerial systems more provocatively, as well as shooting them down.

At the same time, U.S. operations in and around the Red Sea in recent years have underscored the very real threat that drones, and specifically ones of Iranian origin, present to American carriers and other warships. The Houthis in Yemen have actively targeted American naval vessels with kamikaze drones, as well as anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, in the past.

“During a separate incident hours later in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces harassed a U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed merchant vessel lawfully transiting the international sea passage. Two IRGC boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone approached M/V Stena Imperative at high speeds and threatened to board and seize the tanker,” Hawkins, the CENTCOM spokesperson, also said in his statement to TWZ. “Guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) was operating in the area and immediately responded to the scene to escort M/V Stena Imperative with defensive air support from the U.S. Air Force.”

“The situation de-escalated as a result, and the U.S.-flagged tanker is proceeding safely. CENTCOM forces are operating at the highest levels of professionalism and ensuring the safety of U.S. personnel, ships, and aircraft in the Middle East,” Hawkins added. “Continued Iranian harassment and threats in international waters and airspace will not be tolerated. Iran’s unnecessary aggression near U.S. forces, regional partners and commercial vessels increases risks of collision, miscalculation, and regional destabilization.”

The Joint Maritime Information Center of the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office has also issued a notice regarding what appears to be the same incident, which also does not name the ship that was harassed. Iran has a long history of harassing (and even seizing) foreign commercial and naval vessels in and around the Persian Gulf, especially at times of increased geopolitical friction with the United States.

As already noted, this all comes as U.S. military forces continue to flow into the Middle East. There have been reports for weeks now about the prospect of new American strikes on Iran, at least in part in retaliation for the country’s violent crackdown on recent nationwide protests. More recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced interest in reaching some kind of deal with authorities in Iran, including over the future of that country’s nuclear program. There are reports that U.S. and Iranian officials could meet as soon as Friday in Turkey.

“We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones — the biggest and the best — and we have talks going on with Iran and we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump said just yesterday while speaking to members of the press at the White House. “If we can work something out, that would be great and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

How today’s events will impact U.S. decision-making going forward remains to be seen.

Update: 2:52 PM Eastern –

Despite the incident, Trump still prefers a diplomatic solution to the tensions with Iran, according to the White House.

Trump “remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. “But in order for diplomacy to work, of course, it takes two to tango. You need a willing partner to engage. And so that’s something the president and Special Envoy Witkoff are exploring and discussing right now.”

Witkoff, she added, “is set to have conversations with the Iranians later this week. Those are still scheduled as of right now, but of course, the president has always a range of options on the table, and that includes the use of military force. The Iranians know that better than anyone. Just look no further than the highly successful Operation Midnight Hammer, which took not just Iran but the entire world by surprise and completely obliterated their nuclear capabilities earlier last year.”

Speaking earlier on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirms the shoot down of an Iranian drone that was “acting aggressively” towards the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) today over the Arabian Sea, though states that President Trump remains committed to… pic.twitter.com/sVPzPjZIy8

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 3, 2026

Update: 3:35 PM Eastern –

The official Iranian Tasnim news outlet reported that the drone in question was actually a Shahed-129. As we have previously reported, it is similar to an MQ-9 Predator drone.

“The Shahed 129 drone was on its usual and legal mission in international waters, engaged in reconnaissance, monitoring, and filming, which is considered a normal and lawful action,” Tasnim posited. “This drone successfully sent its reconnaissance and identification images to the center but then lost communication. However, the reason for this communication loss is being investigated, and details will be provided once confirmed.”

The War Zone cannot independently verify Tasnim’s claims. 

Iranian state media says the drone (that the US shot down) successfully carried out its reconnaissance mission before it abruptly “lost contact”

“The reason for this communication cut is under investigation”, according to Tasnim News Agencyhttps://t.co/JDmehOv9Uz pic.twitter.com/MqUSGqnlBi

— Faytuks News (@Faytuks) February 3, 2026

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Preble used its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system to down four drones in a demonstration last year, Lockheed Martin has shared. Earlier this month, the Navy’s top officer said his goal is for directed energy weapons to become the go-to choice for warship crews when it comes to defending against close-in threats. However, the service has continued to face significant hurdles in fielding operational laser weapon systems.

“Speaking of amazing technology, we successfully used a shipboard laser system, Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS, to knock an incoming UAV [uncrewed aerial vehicle] right out of the sky,” the company’s CEO Jim Taiclet said during a quarterly earnings call last week. “The HELIOS weapon system successfully neutralized four drone threats in a U.S. Navy-operated counter-UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] demonstration at sea, showcasing an opportunity to eliminate drone attacks using lasers, and saving U.S. and allied air defense missiles for more advanced threats.”

TWZ reached out to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for HELIOS, for more information and was directed to comments from Navy Vice Adm. Brendan McLane at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium in January. McLane is the commander of Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. As the Navy’s top surface warfare officer, he is also often referred to by the title SWOBOSS.

“The Surface Navy has a rare opportunity with leadership aligned on delivering lethality, capability, and capacity at speed. As an enterprise, we must continue to think big as we develop the future platforms within the world. We must lay the foundations for the systems on those ships now so that they deliver on their promise to the American people,” McLane had said at the SNA conference. “Continued iteration with USS Preble’s HELIOS laser weapons system is another example of this. Last fall, successful at-sea testing paved the way for future laser weapons systems. We need to continue on this path. I am committed to advancing laser technology to the fleet. The dream of a laser on every ship can become a real one.”

TWZ has also reached out to the Navy for more information.

HELIOS, which also carries the designation Mk 5 Mod 0, is a 60-kilowatt-class laser directed energy weapon designed to be powerful enough to destroy or at least damage certain targets, such as drones or small boats. As its name indicates, it has a secondary function as a ‘dazzler’ to blind optical sensors and seekers, which could also be damaged or destroyed in the process. In the past, Lockheed Martin has talked about potentially scaling HELIOS’ power rating up to 150 kilowatts.

HELIOS has been integrated on Preble since 2022, and is currently the only Navy ship equipped with the system. Several other Arleigh Burke class destroyers have received lower-powered Optical Dazzling Interdictor (ODIN) laser systems. The Navy has installed more experimental high-energy laser directed energy weapons on other ships in the past.

Preble successfully downed at least one drone using HELIOS in a previous test in 2024. That milestone was disclosed in an annual report from the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) released in January 2025.

A multi-target scenario is a logical evolution in the demonstration of HELIOS’ capabilities. The Navy’s experiences during operations in and around the Red Sea in the past few years have underscored the challenges defenders face at sea and on land when responding to large volume drone attacks. Uncrewed aerial systems layered in with other threats like anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles present even more complexities. The potential for traditional air defense capabilities to be overwhelmed is real. The level of complexity will only increase as artificial intelligence and machine learning-driven capabilities, including automated targeting and fully networked swarming, keep proliferating globally.

Laser directed energy weapons like HELIOS offer functionally unlimited magazine depth, as long as there is sufficient power and cooling capacity. As Lockheed Martin’s Taiclet noted last week, lasers also offer a way to conserve traditional surface-to-air missiles for use against targets that they might be better optimized against. That is particularly valuable for ships operating in areas where opportunities for rearming may be extremely limited and/or force them to leave their assigned station for an extended period of time.

This all presents cost benefits, too. As an example, the latest versions of the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), used for point defense on many Navy ships, each cost around $1 million.

USS Porter Conducts SeaRAM Test Fire

Many warships across the Navy are also equipped with Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems armed with six-barreled 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannons, but the ammunition for those weapons is not unlimited, either. Each Phalanx has enough ammunition to fire for a total of around 30 seconds, at most, at the lower of two rate-of-fire settings, before needing to be reloaded. Many ships across the Navy also have a mixture of other guns, including 5-inch or 57mm main guns, as well as 25mm or 30mm automatic cannons, all of which can also be used against close-in threats.

Phalanx CIWS Close-in Weapon System In Action – US Navy’s Deadly Autocannon

There are still significant questions about the demonstration last fall, including how rapidly the USS Preble was able to shift HELIOS from one target to another and how long it took each one to be effectively neutralized. The proximity of the drones to the ship and what kinds of profiles they were flying are also unknown.

A single laser can only engage one target at once. As the beam gets further away from the source, its power also drops, just as a result of it having to propagate through the atmosphere. This can be further compounded by the weather and other environmental factors like smoke and dust. More power is then needed to produce suitable effects at appreciable distances. Adaptive optics are used to help overcome atmospheric distortion to a degree. Altogether, laser directed energy weapons generally remain relatively short-range systems.

In addition, laser directed energy weapons, especially sensitive optics, present inherent reliability challenges for use in real-world military operations. Shipboard use adds rough sea states and saltwater exposure to the equation. There is also the matter of needing to keep everything properly cooled, which creates additional power generation and other demands.

Despite the hurdles, the U.S. Navy, as well as other navies globally, have continued to pursue laser directed energy weapons, as well as high-power microwaves, because of the capabilities they promise to offer in the face of an ever-expanding drone and missile threat ecosystem. HELIOS and ODIN both feature prominently in the design of the Navy’s future Trump class “battleships.” There has been talk already about the potential for expanding that directed energy arsenal to include lasers with megawatt-class power ratings.

“You know, we have continuous electron beam, free electron lasers today that can scale to megawatt-plus, gigawatt-plus [power ratings],” Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, told TWZ and other outlets at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium last month. “I’m telling you that I don’t think a one-megawatt laser is beyond what should be on that battery [on the Trump class].”

Beyond the Trump class, “this is my goal, if it’s in line of sight of a ship, that the first solution that we’re using is directed energy,” Caudle also said. “Point defense needs to shift to directed energy. It has an infinite magazine.”

“What that does for me is it improves my loadout optimization, so that my loadout, my payload volume is optimized for offensive weapons,” the Navy’s top officer added. Furthermore, “as you increase power, the actual ability to actually engage and keep power on target, and the effectiveness of a laser just goes up.”

Challenges to the Navy’s directed energy future clearly still remain. In speaking last month, Caudle was optimistic for the future, but he has been open about difficulties in the past. At the SNA symposium in 2025, the admiral, then head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said he was “embarrassed” at the state of his service’s directed energy weapon developments.

“I am not content with the pace of directed energy weapons,” Vice Adm. McLane had also said back in 2024. “We must deliver on this promise that this technology gives us.”

This is reflective of broader difficulties that all branches have faced in the development and fielding of laser directed energy weapons, in particular, for use in the air and on the ground, as well as at sea, as you can read more about here.

What we do know is that the Navy continues to use the USS Preble to prove out the HELIOS system, including with the recently disclosed demonstration of its drone-zapping capabilities last fall.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The future USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford class aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy, has begun its initial sea trials. The Navy is slated to take delivery of the ship in 2027 after years of delays.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that Kennedy, also known by the hull number CVN-79, had left port in Newport News, Virginia, earlier today to start initial sea trials.

“These trials will test important ship systems and components at sea for the first time,” HII wrote in posts on social media. “This huge milestone is the result of the selfless teamwork and unwavering commitment by our incredible shipbuilders, suppliers and ship’s force crew. We wish them a safe and successful time at sea!”

The extent to which Kennedy has been fitted out is unclear, but the carrier is set to be delivered with some notable differences from the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). This most notably includes an AN/SPY-6(V)3 radar, also known as the fixed-face version of Raytheon’s Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), in place of Ford‘s Dual Band Radar (DBR). The DBR has proven immensely troublesome over the years, as you can read more about here. Pictures that HII released today show a number of differences between Kennedy‘s island and the one on Ford, due at least in part to the radar change.

Ford has suffered from a laundry list of other issues over the years, and HII and the Navy have working to leverage those lessons learned in work on all of the future ships in the class.

It is worth noting here that this is not the Navy’s first USS John F. Kennedy, an honor held by a unique subvariant of the Kitty Hawk class carrier design, which served from 1968 until 2007. One of America’s last conventionally powered carriers, it was subsequently sold for scrap despite attempts to turn it into a museum ship.

The Navy ordered the new Kennedy in 2013, and it was laid down at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in 2015. The ship was launched four years later, at which time the goal was for it to be delivered in 2022. The Navy had originally pursued a dual-phase delivery schedule for the carrier, in which it would arrive initially still lacking certain capabilities. A Congressional demand for the carrier to be able to support F-35C Joint Strike Fighters at the time of delivery contributed to an initial slip in that schedule to 2024. At the time of writing, Ford has yet to set sail on an operational cruise with F-35Cs aboard.

The Navy subsequently shifted the timetable for Kennedy again from 2024 to 2025, ostensibly to complete work that normally would be done during a Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) after delivery. Last year, the service revealed that it pushed the delivery schedule further to the right, to March 2027. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Congressional watchdog, separately reported that the Navy might not have the carrier in hand until July 2027.

“The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work,” according to the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request, which it began releasing in June 2025.

“Construction challenges affected CVN 79 and CVN 80 [the future USS Enterprise] delivery schedules. Continuing delays to Advanced Weapons Elevators construction put CVN 79’s July 2025 delivery at risk, according to program officials,” GAO said in its report, which came out that same month. “They said that, while this construction improved since CVN 78, they may postpone noncritical work like painting until after delivery to avoid delay.”

Problems with the AWEs on Ford became a particular cause celebre during President Donald Trump’s first term office, but the Navy said it had effectively mitigated those issues by 2021. The AWEs are critical to the carrier’s operation, being used to move aircraft munitions and other stores between the ship’s magazines and the flight deck.

Watch the Advanced Weapons Elevators on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford

Ford has also faced persistent issues with its AAG, as well as the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults, though the Navy says it has made progress in addressing those, as well. EMALS and AAG are how Ford class carriers get planes into the air and recover them afterward.

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)

USS Gerald R. Ford Launches and Recovery

“Program officials attributed this delay [in work on CVN 79 and CVN 80] to construction material availability and persistent shipyard workforce issues that the program is working to mitigate with revised schedules and worker incentives,” GAO’s June 2025 report also noted. “The program reported it has not assessed the carrier industrial base for potential manufacturing risks but officials said that they plan to leverage other industrial base initiatives. This includes those related to submarines and within the Navy’s new Maritime Industrial Base program office.”

It’s not immediately clear how much all of this has added to Kennedy‘s price tag. Back in 2018, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) pegged Kennedy‘s cost at around $11.3 billion. A new CRS report published in December 2025 said the ship’s estimated acquisition cost had grown to $13.196 billion, citing Navy budget documents, but it is unclear if that accounts in any way for inflation. The Navy continues to estimate that future ships in the Ford class will cost even more, with CVN-81, the future USS Doris Miller, still expected to come in at around $15 billion. The Navy expects to acquire six more Ford class carriers, two of which have already been given names, the future USS William J. Clinton (CVN-82) and USS George W. Bush (CVN-83).

Acquiring more Ford class carriers is a critical priority for the Navy, which has been looking to start retiring its aging Nimitz class carriers for years now. If the Navy decommissions the USS Nimitz this year as planned, the total size of the service’s carrier force will drop to 10 hulls until Kennedy arrives. There is a standing legal requirement for the Navy to have no less than 12 carriers in service, which is reflective of the high demand for these ships, especially in times of crisis.

The Navy has been voicing its own concerns about carrier capacity, and the readiness of the force it does have, for years now. This has only been compounded in the past two years or so by the strain from steady demand for deployments to respond to contingencies in and around the Middle East, and more recently, the Caribbean.

“I think the Ford, from its capability perspective, would be an invaluable option for any military thing the president wants to do,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told TWZ and other outlets on the sidelines of the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) annual symposium. “But if it requires an extension, it’s going to get some pushback from the CNO. And I will see if there is something else I can do.”

“To the financial and readiness aspects, we have maintenance agreements and contracts that have been made with yards that are going to repair the ships that are in that strike group, including the carrier itself,” Caudle noted. “And so when those are tied to a specific time, the yard is expecting it to be there. All that is highly disruptive.”

Caudle was responding to a question about whether Ford could be tasked to support a new potential U.S. operation against Iran. The carrier is currently sailing in the Caribbean Sea, where it has been operating for months now. Earlier this month, it took part in the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Since the CNO offered his comments at SNA, the Navy has sent the Nimitz class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group from the Pacific to the Middle East.

As an aside, CVN-79 is expected to be the first Ford class carrier homeported on the West Coast. Ford‘s homeport is Norfolk, Virginia, on the East Coast.

The Navy is now at least one step closer to taking delivery of the future USS John F. Kennedy.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com