New US Navy EMALS Launch System Can't Launch Fighter if They Are Carrying Fuel Tanks

The U.S. Navy’s top can’t be launched off its newest aircraft carrier if they’re carrying fuel tanks, range because the ship’s high-tech catapults cause too much wear.
Military weapons testers view this as a deficiency that would “preclude the Navy from conducting normal operations” on the USS Gerald R. Ford until it’s corrected.
The previously undisclosed troubles with the EMALS catapult system from General Atomics add to shortcomings for the first in a new class of aircraft carriers being built by Newport News.
The 480-gallon tanks for extended flights are carried under the wings of two models of the F/A-18, the Super Hornet fighter and the Growler. The carrier’s electromagnetic launch system, made by General Atomics, puts more stress on the tanks than older steam-powered catapults, and that would cause premature damage to the planes.
The wing tanks and the pylons they hang from are designed to withstand twisting and yanking when an aircraft is launched, but the stresses add up over time. Given the test results, the warplanes wouldn’t be able to launch with fuel tanks.
The Navy says it will install corrective software on the launch system intended to reduce acceleration forces and will test it on board the USS Ford after delivery next March.
bloomberg

US Navy new USS Gerald R. Ford carrier set for 2 years of testing

The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, The USS Gerald R. Ford, a massive warship outfitted with the latest radar technology and sophisticated systems to accommodate unmanned, carrier-launched drones — is set to undergo more than two years of rigorous testing.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the first of what will eventually be the Navy’s fleet of next-generation Ford-class aircraft carriers. The upgraded ships are the first new designs of aircraft carriers since the USS Nimitz was built in the late 1960s.
The USS Ford was christened during a special ceremony in November in Newport News, Virginia. The massive warship is slated to officially enter service in the Navy in 2016. But first, shipbuilders will spend 26 months meticulously testing the aircraft carrier’s various systems.
The USS Ford’s testing phase is longer and more labour intensive than normal because the next-generation warship incorporates many new technologies, including upgraded radar systems, more efficient nuclear power plants and electromagnetic launchers designed to more effectively propel aircraft off the carrier’s deck.
The mammoth USS Ford weighs nearly 100,000 tonnes, and will eventually be home to more than 4,600 service people and up to 75 aircraft.
The Ford-class carriers are designed to replace the Navy’s existing Nimitz-class warships, which have been in operation since the 1970s. The upgraded designs feature larger flight decks, three aircraft elevators and the new ships also replace steam-powered systems with more efficient onboard electrical power.
The Ford-class ships are designed to operate for 50 years. Construction is already beginning on the next aircraft carrier in the fleet, the USS John F. Kennedy.
gulf-times

Final aircraft carrier installed on USS Gerald Ford carrier

Newport News Shipbuilding has installed the third and final aircraft elevator on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.
The elevator transports aircraft from the hangar deck to to the flight deck. The 120-ton structure is 85 feet long and 52 feet wide.
The Ford class is designed with three aircraft elevators, one less than the Nimitz class. The design provides greater flight deck area for increased sortie rates over the Nimitz-class design.
dailypress

EMALS begins phase two aircraft launch tests

The U.S. Navy successfully launched an EA-18G Growler on June 25, kicking off the second phase of manned aircraft launch tests using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).
The new aircraft carrier catapult system, which is replacing steam catapults beginning with the new Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, commenced aircraft compatibility testing (ACT) phase two from the land-based test site at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
navair

US Navy Should Delay Next Carrier Amid Troubles, GAO Says

The U.S. Navy should delay the award of a multibillion-dollar contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII) to build the second aircraft carrier in a new class as the first one faces failings from its radar to the gear that launches planes, congressional investigators said.
bloomberg

Launch of US Navy's newest aircraft carrier, "Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)" delayed

The launch of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford has been moved back from July to November, a consequence of production delays identified two years ago.
The move comes weeks after the Navy and shipbuilder Newport News Shipbuilding moved the ship’s delivery from September 2015 — which has been the contracted date for some years — to early 2016.

navytimes

USS Enterprise inactivated, CVN-80 named Enterprise

US Navy Secretary announced during the inactivation ceremony for the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) that the third Gerald R Ford-class carrier, CVN-80, will also be named the Enterprise. CVN-80 will be the ninth Navy warship to bear the name Enterprise.

flightglobal