Overview
- The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis Wednesday estimating the first Trump‑class lead ship at about $23.4 billion and a 15‑ship program near $275 billion, with higher scenarios that could push costs above $500 billion if size or quantity increase.
- The Navy has chosen a nuclear‑propelled design using the Gerald R. Ford reactor; CBO says that switch raises up‑front procurement costs by roughly 13 percent compared with a conventional design while potentially lowering fuel bills over the ship’s life.
- Planned weapons include 128 Mark 41 VLS cells, hypersonic Conventional Prompt Strike tubes, lasers, an electromagnetic railgun, and the SLCM‑N nuclear sea‑launched cruise missile, with several of those systems still unfielded and increasing technical and schedule risk.
- CBO cautions U.S. shipyards lack capacity to meet the Navy’s 2027 shipbuilding plan, saying by 2035 industry would need to more than double large surface combatant tonnage and that final assembly would likely fall to Newport News, the only yard certified for new nuclear surface ships.
- The Pentagon has requested roughly $1 billion in FY2027 advance procurement and plans orders beginning in 2028, but the CBO findings have intensified congressional scrutiny and prompted lawmakers and analysts to question feasibility, budget trade‑offs, and the program’s fit with modern naval strategy.