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The Navy recently completed the long-awaited first fly-in recovery of an F/A-18E Super Hornet with the Advanced Arresting Gear that will be part of the service's next-generation aircraft carrier.
On Oct. 13, the Navy tested the capability at the runway arrested landing site in Lakehurst, NJ as part of AAG performance testing. This event follows more than 200 roll-in arrestments completed since March, according to a service statement.
"This milestone test event demonstrates AAG's capability, and signifies a big step forward in getting the system ready for duty onboard the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, [Pre-commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)]," Capt. Stephen Tedford, aircraft launch and recovery equipment program manager, said in the same statement.
Inside Defense previously reported the Senate Armed Services Committee wants to block the Navy from installing the Advanced Arresting Gear on the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80) until the service entertains alternatives to landing an aircraft aboard a carrier, according to the committee's mark-up of the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill.
The AAG works in conjunction with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System to launch and recover aircraft from the ship using electricity, rather than steam. The AAG will rapidly decelerate aircraft using an electric-motor-based system, which allows the Navy to arrest a broader range of aircraft more efficiently.
Senate authorizers would withhold funding until a Nunn-McCurdy review of the AAG is complete, according to a report accompanying the committee's bill. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the defense policy bill May 12. The House Armed Services Committee did not include language about the AAG in its mark of the defense policy bill.
The committee is focusing on the AAG for the Enterprise because construction is too far along for the Ford or the John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).
"The committee remains concerned with the current cost, schedule, and performance of the AAG program, which is on the critical path for the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)," the report reads, adding: "The committee finds the AAG program has exceeded the program acquisition cost (PAUC) critical cost growth thresholds."