The Navy launches its first fighter from the radical electromagnetic catapult onboard the $13bn aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
Navy successfully launched and recovered F/A-18F Super Hornet jet using the EMALS system for the first time.
It launched off the USS Gerald R. Ford, the warship just commissioned and heavily praised by Donald Trump.
The U.S. Navy’s Most Powerful Aircraft Carrier Just Showed Off Some New Technology.
Six days after being commissioned, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier, received and launched its first fixed-wing aircraft.
The new technology – called the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS – has previously shown it can hurl dead-loads, but this is the first time the catapult-like launcher has propelled an actual aircraft into the air.
‘AAG and EMALS have been successfully tested ashore at Lakehurst, New Jersey, but this is the first shipboard recovery and launch of a fleet fixed wing aircraft,’ said Capt. Rick McCormack, Ford’s commanding officer.
It comes after delay to the ship after there were issues with the carrier’s advanced systems and technology, including its aircraft landing equipment and power generation.
To allow fast jets to land on the relatively tiny deck of the carrier, the conventional arresting wire system has been replaced with the new AAG system.
This replaces the old hydraulic arrestor wire system used to decelerate aircraft with one based on electric motors and energy recovery systems.
Because the AAG is computer-controlled, it requires fewer crew to operate, can be quickly set for everything from light drones to heavy fighter bombers, and has self-diagnostic systems to reduce maintenance costs.
HOW THE EMALS CATAPULT WORKS
* The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System uses a linear motor drive instead of the conventional steam piston drive.
* EMALS has been in development for the Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
* It’s meant to launch aircrafts from a carrier using the catapult method.
* But rather than using a conventional steam piston drive, it uses a linear motor drive instead.
* This accelerates the aircraft more smoothly and puts less stress on the airframes.
* It also weighs and costs significantly less and requires little maintenance.
* It’s designed for to be flexible in launching both light and heavy aircrafts.
*The UK, China and India have also show interest in or began developing systems that use EMALS.
USS GERALD R. FORD
The USS Gerald R. Ford is a state of the art naval aircraft carrier successfully commissioned on July 22, 2017 and is expected to take on its first mission in 2020.
• It is 1,100 feet long, the length of three football fields
• It is one of three naval carriers with the same design commissioned by the US Navy, including the USS John F. Kennedy, and the future USS Enterprise costing approximately $42 billion total
• It’s specialized electromagnetic systems will reportedly allow planes to take off and land more quickly
• It will carry a crew of 2,600 sailors
• It has 250 per cent more electrical capacity than previous models
• It will be able to launch 33 per cent more aircraft