Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst’s Joseph Wolfe (right) shows Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN(RDA)) James Geurts (left) the sequence for powering up the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) during an Aug. 26 visit to the EMALS and Advanced Arresting Gear land-based test sites at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. (U.S. Navy photo)
ASN(RD&A) Geurts visits AAG, EMALS land-based test sites
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN(RD&A)) James Geurts visited Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst Aug. 26 to see the land-based test sites for the Navy’s newest aircraft launch and recovery systems, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG).
Designed for the Ford-class aircraft carriers, EMALS and AAG will increase operational availability while requiring a smaller footprint in the ship, less maintenance, and less manpower than traditional steam catapults and arresting gear.
The land-based test sites enable testing, troubleshooting and training for the systems.
The EMALS land-based System Functional Demonstration site has achieved more than 9,600 launch events to date.
Two land-based test sites house the AAG system. Approximately 1,600 aircraft arrestment test events have occurred with all type/model/series aircraft at the Runway Arrested Landing Site, and more than 2,600 aircraft representative sleds, known as dead-loads, have been arrested with AAG at the Jet Car Track Site.