Independent team now assisting Navy with Ford's weapons elevators

By Justin Katz / July 2, 2019 at 10:08 AM

The Navy has recruited an independent team to help work through the issues plaguing the advanced weapons elevators on the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford (CVN-78), according to a service statement.

"This team of experts in electromagnetic systems, fabrication and production control, software, systems integration, and electrical engineering will focus on completing the production of the remaining elevators on CVN-78 and recommending design changes for future ships in the class," Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts said in the statement.

The team began working last month, according to the statement.

"We have a full court press on the advanced weapons elevators," said Geurts.

The elevators have remained one of the most persistent problems for the service on its latest class of aircraft carriers. Those problems have resulted in the Navy failing to meet several deadlines on fixing the AWEs. The latest of which led Geurts to announce that the elevators would not necessarily be fixed by October, when the vessel is set to end its post-shakedown availability.

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