Congressional auditors estimate the first two ships of the Ford-class aircraft carrier program built by Huntington Ingalls Industries will exceed statutory cost caps by $1.7 billion, raising the prospect that lawmakers may have to loosen restraints designed to reign in the price tags of the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and the John F. Kennedy (CVN-79). The Congressional Budget Office, in its annual audit of the Navy's statutorily mandated shipbuilding plan that outlines inventory goals for the next three decades, estimates...
