How Much Does Aircraft Carrier Cost? The Real Numbers

The U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carriers are the Gerald R. Ford class, nuclear-powered ships built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. That shipyard is the only one in the country that can build large nuclear-powered carriers, so there is no competing bid to set a market price. The cost of each ship comes from the Navy's budget estimates, which the Congressional Research Service (CRS) tracks.

The figures on this page come from a CRS report on the Ford-class program, updated in December 2025, which cites the Navy's fiscal year 2026 budget submission. All of them are then-year dollars, meaning the amount spent or estimated in the year the money was used, not adjusted for inflation. The numbers are total procurement costs for each ship, which cover building the ship but not operating it over its life.

For the Ford class, each ship costs billions of dollars, and the later ships carry higher estimates than the first two. The CRS report gives a cost for each hull.

The table leaves out the carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), whose estimated total procurement cost is $14,200,000,000. Estimates for ships still under construction can change, so these are the Navy's latest numbers rather than final prices.

The CRS report lists the figures but does not give one reason for the increase. A few general factors may contribute. Ships bought in later years are built when prices for labor and materials are higher. Construction schedules have also slipped, and CRS notes that delivery dates have been pushed back for some ships. The first ship in a class often carries design and development work, while later ships may still run into new problems, so the pattern does not always run in one direction. Check the CRS report and Government Accountability Office reviews for the detailed explanations.

CRS lists the Navy's current delivery schedule. The John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is scheduled for delivery in March 2027. The Enterprise (CVN-80) is scheduled for delivery in July 2030, and the Doris Miller (CVN-81) in February 2032. CVN-80 and CVN-81 were bought under a two-ship block buy contract. The Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was commissioned in July 2017 and has since deployed. Delays can add cost, so treat schedule and price as linked.

Carriers are funded over several years rather than in one payment. In its fiscal year 2026 budget request, the Navy asked for $3,400,000,000 for Ford-class ships. That covers advance procurement, procurement, and cost-to-complete funding, which pays for cost growth on ships already under way. It is not the price of a single carrier, and it should not be added to the per-ship totals above.

The numbers on this page cover buying the ship. A carrier also has to be crewed, fueled, maintained, and refueled during its life, and those costs are separate. The aircraft that fly from it are bought separately too. The CRS report notes a refueling and overhaul program for older carriers. If you want a full lifetime cost, look for Navy and Congressional Budget Office analyses that state what they include.

According to CRS, the first six ships in the class are CVN-78, CVN-79, CVN-80, CVN-81, CVN-82, and CVN-83. The Navy's budget for CVN-82 includes advance procurement funding, but CRS says an estimated total procurement cost for CVN-82 and CVN-83 is not available. That is why this page has no price for those two ships.