The U.S. Navy received delivery of the fourth F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to undergo Service Life Modification (SLM) earlier this month – and the first completed at The Boeing Company’s line in San Antonio, Texas.

The three previous jets underwent the series of modifications in St. Louis, Missouri, returning to the fleet fully mission capable, with flight hours extended. The Navy expects delivery of the next completed jet out of St. Louis later this month.

The Navy’s newest aircraft recovery system, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), successfully completed the system’s most demanding test event to date with 22 aircraft arrestments in just over 26 minutes at the Runway Arrested Landing Site (RALS) in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

The two-day series of testing Oct. 23-24 evaluated the AAG thermal management system’s ability to remove excess heat generated during fast-paced flight operations as experienced aboard the aircraft carrier to validate the system’s capability to meet USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) operational requirements.