Navy will host industry day for EMALS, AAG

The Navy will host an industry day for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear production program for the third Ford-class aircraft carrier at the end of March in New Jersey, according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice.

The Enterprise (CVN-80) is the third aircraft carrier in its class and Naval Air Systems Command intends to host an industry day March 22-24 for build-to-print production, manufacture, assembly, test, installation support and management of EMALS and AAG, the Feb. 29 special notice reads.

"This general session will address an overview of the EMALS and AAG systems, and some of the subsystems and components that may be procured under separate contracts, including Motor Generators, Launch Motor Modules, PCS Inverter Enclosures, Transformer/Rectifiers, Electric Motors, Water Twisters, Purchase Cable Drums, Mechanical Brakes, Cable Shock Absorbers, and/or HealthMAP," the notice reads.

Inside the Navy reported earlier this month the Navy has developed a software solution for the General Atomics-built EMALS on the service's new super carrier, the Gerald R. Ford.

In fiscal year 2014 the service discovered excessive airframe stress during launches of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers with wing-mounted 480-gallon external fuel tanks due to EMALS, which is largely a software-based system, according to the latest report from the Pentagon's chief weapon tester J. Michael Gilmore.

"This discovery, until corrected, will preclude the Navy from conducting normal operations of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G from CVN 78," the report reads.

The software solution was verified with dead-load testing at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst System Functional Demonstration test site. The service will conduct aircraft verification in the summer of 2016, Naval Sea Systems Command spokeswoman Colleen O'Rourke wrote in a Feb. 8 email to ITN.