The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

The United States' new generation of aircraft carriers, named the "Ford-class" aircraft carriers, are new super aircraft carriers under development in the United States. Ten or even more ships of this class will be built in the next 50 years and will gradually replace the current "Nimitz" class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Prior to this, this class of ships was originally called CVN-21, which represents the first super aircraft carrier design of the US Navy after entering the 21st century.

The CVN-21 Ford-class aircraft carrier originated from the first three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers ordered in 1975. The U.S. Navy launched a series of conceptual plans for future aircraft carriers after the Nimitz-class, called CVNX, covering light, medium to heavy aircraft carriers. A total of 15 ship models with different hull sizes were studied for waterline performance, and the take-off and landing methods included traditional CTOL using catapults/arrestor cables, STOL using ski-jump short take-off/arrestor cable landing, and S/VTOL using ski-jump take-off/vertical landing. Each direction includes traditional deck layouts and new designs. At that time, there were about 50 design plans for CVNX.

However, considering the cost, risk and practicality, the final decision was to improve the American aircraft carrier configuration from the Kitty Hawk class to the Nimitz class.

"The Navy is still negotiating the cost with Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman is asking for $80 billion. With such a high price, we will be under a lot of pressure. Congress is likely to take action against us!" The US Secretary of Defense looked a little grim.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a large weapons manufacturer in the United States and the largest naval ship manufacturer and radar manufacturer in the United States.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier was built by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

The United States' next-generation aircraft carrier, the 'Ford-class' nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is also developed and built by Northrop Grumman Group!
George Walton raised his eyebrows. This price was quite high.

The cost of building American warships has been rising every year over the past thirty or forty years.

The cost of building the first Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, was $1967 million in fiscal year 7.25, but the subsequent USS Bush had a budget cost of $62 billion.

Now, the first ship of the new generation "Ford-class" aircraft carrier is priced at US$80 billion. According to the practice of the Northrop Grumman Group, won't the cost of building a ship soar to US$160 billion or even US$200 billion in ten years?

In recent years, with the two regional wars, the 'Afghanistan War' and the 'Iraq War', and other countries feeling the tension and accelerating their arms purchases, the US military-industrial enterprises have made a fortune.

The United States’ own purchases alone are enough to make its military-industrial enterprises rich, not to mention purchases by the United States’ allies and some countries.

The strength of the military-industrial complex has increased significantly!

Even though the US subprime mortgage crisis broke out, it did not affect the military-industrial complex at all.

After all, the war outside is still going on, and the orders from the US Department of Defense have not stopped.

The U.S. military budget in fiscal year 2007 was as high as $8500 billion, a considerable portion of which went to the military-industrial complex.

As the military-industrial complex becomes stronger, its influence in the United States will naturally increase further.

"Promise the Nogru Corporation and let them start construction as soon as possible!" said George Walton.

His term of office will last only about one and a half years at most, and he doesn't have much time left.

The forces that support him, including giants in energy, chemicals, military industry, etc., have all been richly rewarded over the years.

It is impossible for him to have a third term. Even if Northrop Grumman makes more money, it is not George Wharton's money.

Moreover, he has a good relationship with the Northrop Grumman Group. "Our top priority now is to have the next generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers as soon as possible. The US Navy must be the world's number one navy!" George Walton said in a deep voice.

The U.S. Army may not be the most powerful army in the world.

In any case, during World War I and World War II, the U.S. Army was not known for its strength. At that time, the German Army was the strongest, followed by the Soviet Army.

During the bipolar rivalry, the Soviet Red Army's ground forces were much stronger than the U.S. Army.

But the United States must have the world's number one navy because the United States has vast maritime interests and must have a strong navy to safeguard its maritime interests.

"Michael, you, the CIA, must figure out how many of these Type 003 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers they are going to build? Are they building the more advanced Type 004 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier? Or are they already building the Type 005 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier?" George Walton said to CIA Director Michael Vincent Hayden.

Michael nodded and said, "I understand. We must strengthen our intelligence work!"

He was appointed director of the CIA last year and has been in the job for a full year now.

The fact that he was appointed as the Director of the CIA by George Walton shows his status in George Walton's heart.

George Walton said: "In half a month's time, we will add an agenda item for the two sides to discuss whether they can reach an agreement similar to the Washington Naval Treaty. We can no longer build warships without restrictions. Although the ocean is vast, it cannot accommodate so many warships!"

Others couldn't help but look surprised.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

I didn't expect George Wharton to raise such an issue.

Naturally, they were familiar with the Washington Naval Treaty.

During World War I, each naval power designed battleships with larger scale and more powerful firepower, with the caliber of main guns increased to 16 to 18 inches.

Since battleships were extremely expensive to build and maintain, this costly arms race would become a heavy financial burden after the war.

1922年的华盛顿会议期间，美国、英国、日本、法国和意大利五个海军强国签订了《限制海军军备条约》，也就是世人所熟知的《华盛顿海军条约》。该条约限制主力舰的吨位（3.5万吨）和主炮口径（不得超过16英寸），并规定美、英、日、法、意五国海军的主力舰（战列舰和战列巡洋舰）总吨位比例为5.25:5.25:3.15:1.75:1.75，此外还规定了缔约国航空母舰总吨位、标准排水量、火炮口径。

Therefore, the 1922 years from 1936 to 15 were known as the "Navy Holiday" era, and all countries' large battleship construction plans were terminated or cancelled.

However, what the United States wants to achieve now is to get the major naval countries in the world to reach an agreement like the Washington Naval Treaty, which is not easy!

Because the U.S. Navy has the largest total naval tonnage in the world.

What conditions should the United States put forward for other countries to agree to?
Other countries are not fools. It is impossible for the United States to prevent other countries from developing their navies without paying any cost?
Most importantly, the influence the United States can exert on those sovereign and independent countries is actually very limited, and it is impossible to make all these countries obey the arrangements of the United States.

If the United States had that ability, the problems it faces now would not be like this. (End of this chapter)