I think you mean to say that the three new Ford class carriers will cost in the neighborhood of $30 billion each. See [0], specifically page 19, 'Cost Summary -

I think you mean to say that the three new Ford class carriers will cost in the neighborhood of $30 billion each. See [0], specifically page 19, 'Cost Summary - CVN 78'. In FY 2000 dollars, a total of $27.725 billion (thousand million) has been spent on the CVN 78. This includes, research, design, testing, evaluation, and salaries for contractors. This does not include the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS, the replacement for the steam catapults found on other US carriers) or the Advanced Arresting Gear (a replacement for the Mark 7 arresting gear). CVN 78 (USS Gerald R. Ford) is on track to be about $40 billion. The SAR is optimistic in saying that cost savings will be seen on CVN 79 and CVN 80 due to knowledge gained during the construction of CVN 78. Also it is not correct to say that there has been 1 trillion spent on the F-35 program because spent is past tense. There has not been 1 trillion spent. Rather, according to the latest Selected Acquisition Report, the costs to date (including funding allocations for some production lots still to be made) is about $81 billion (See page 29, 'PB 2017 Total - Prior' figures. Another ~$18 billion has been spent on the development and procurement of the F-135 engine. Another $6 billion or so was spent on the now-cancelled F-136 engine. What will be in the neighborhood of $1 trillion is the estimated total lifetime cost of the F-35 at program completion (when the F-35 is retired and all aircraft have been decommissioned and disposed of in some way). [0]: CVN 78 Selected Acquisition Report: http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/Reading_Room/Selected_Acquisition_Reports/CVN_78_December_2012_SAR.pdf http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/Reading_Room/Selected_Acquisitio... [1]: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Selected Acquisition Report: https://fas.org/man/eprint/F35-sar-2016.pdf https://fas.org/man/eprint/F35-sar-2016.pdf