Lawmakers, bending to the reality that cost estimates for the Navy's new aircraft carriers continue to climb, are for a third time raising the cost cap for new Ford-class ships, setting a new statutory threshold of $12.6 billion for the future Enterprise (CVN-80) and follow-on aircraft carriers. The conference version of the House and Senate armed services committees' fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill also includes a provision that would empower the defense secretary to waive the requirement to conduct...