The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier is launching large, metal carts into the James River in Virginia. It’s okay, though. It’s all part of the building process for carriers.
HII released video of the USS John F. Kennedy during dead-load testing of its electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS (pronounced eee-mahlz). The testing was done recently at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding yard.
As the name “dead-load” implies, during the testing, crews launch weighted carts into the James River, making sure the carrier’s catapult is up to snuff and mission ready. The catapult system is crucial to launching planes at sea.
Dead-load testing marks a significant milestone in a carrier’s construction, so many of the workers who helped build the USS John F. Kennedy, also called CVN 79, signed the carts in celebration. Six different dead-loads of varying weight were used, and all were launched at different speeds to simulate what it’s like to launch real aircraft: from lighter jets or unmanned vehicles to larger reconnaissance planes.
The nuclear-powered USS JFK is the Navy’s second Ford Class aircraft carrier, and also just the second in the fleet to use the EMALS system. The Navy said the new launch system is a vast improvement over the steam-powered catapults in use by other carriers.
CVN-79 is also the second carrier in the United States Navy to be named after John F. Kennedy, the nation’s 35th president and a naval officer during World War II. The first USS JFK, CV-67, served for more than 50 years before it was decommissioned in 2007.
The new USS JFK will definitely be a looker. It’s over a thousand feet long and weighs 100,000 tons. In addition to the EMALS, the Navy said the ship incorporates more than 20 other new technologies; like advancements in propulsion, ordnance handling and battlespace management.
HII, the company building the USS JFK, is scheduled to deliver the boat to the U.S. Navy sometime in 2025. The original delivery date was pushed back a year so the ship could be modified to launch the F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, as well as address issues discovered during the build of the first in class USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
Once the Navy takes delivery of USS JFK, it will be deployed to the Pacific, where Indo-Pacific Command hopes it will “transform naval warfare as the most agile and lethal combat platform” on the planet.
The JFK will be the second Ford Class carrier in the U.S. Navy, but the 12th aircraft carrier overall. And for those keeping track at home, that’s more than the rest of the world combined.
