Overview
- The Department of the Navy, which released its Fiscal Year 2027 shipbuilding plan Monday, confirmed the Trump‑class will be nuclear powered and laid out a goal to buy 15 of the large surface combatants over the coming decades.
- Navy leaders told lawmakers Tuesday the ship will use the Ford‑class A1B reactor, a pull‑through design that supports long endurance and the high electrical loads needed for advanced weapons such as lasers and hypersonic missiles.
- To field uncrewed ships faster, the plan shifts medium unmanned surface vessels to “other transaction authority” buys, pays only for proven performance, and targets 36 MUSVs this year using commercial hulls that can carry standard 40‑foot mission containers.
- The service asked Congress for narrow authority to build up to two auxiliary ships overseas and to let allied yards fabricate non‑sensitive modules, while it drives a domestic expansion that aims to lift distributed shipbuilding from about 10% of work today to 50%.
- Near‑term force changes include dismantling the carrier USS Nimitz in FY2027 and recycling multiple Ohio‑class submarines, as the Navy seeks $65.8 billion for shipbuilding in FY2027 and targets a total inventory of about 450 vessels by 2031.