CVN-78 Gerald W Ford

[Stitch]

Something doesn't ring true. One of the main design features of the new catapults was that they would be easily adjustable to NOT produce excessive G's that would stress an airframe.

That was my understanding, also; one of the advantages of the EMALS is it's ability to be infinitely adjustable, not just with the initial impulse, but all the way until release. Sounds like they're still working on modulating the specific impulse of the EMALS.

[surfgun]

Another interesting note is that the advanced arresting gear reportedly will not yet be operable when the ship is delivered, at the same time the Navy plans to run trials of launching aircraft next year. So I figure that the aircraft will be loaded aboard by crane pier side at Norfolk.
What is even more ironic is that Ford will be the first CVN built without a crane!

[surfgun]

On the Ford FB page there is a video of a no load shot.

https://m.facebook.com/USSGeraldRFord

[surfgun]

http://news.usni.org/2015/05/28/peo-...vering-on-time
The program executive officer for aircraft carriers told USNI News he is confident the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) will deliver on time despite delays in the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) program.

Rear Adm. Tom Moore said Thursday that the AAG setbacks created about four to six weeks of schedule pressure to the ship, but he is striving to make up that time. Moore said in March that the General Atomics-built component had a design flaw, but the solution that has been implemented seems to be working well, he told USNI News.

“They put a winch, if you will, at the end of the water twister to rotate the entire assembly so they can wrap the cable around the purchase cable drum. That’s worked fine,” he said.

Most of the arresting system has been installed, and shipbuilders are now adding the final section, the cable shock absorbers – which Moore said are very large and go in a confined space. Newport News Shipbuilding is installing the cable shock absorbers now, at the same time workers put the non-skid coating on the flight deck, which Moore called “a kind of a ballet” to do simultaneously.

Moore said in March that the improved AAG design would have to be tested at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst, but for scheduling reasons he couldn’t postpone installation while awaiting the test results.

“If Lakehurst uncovers something on the system that has to be fixed, the risk I’m taking is I’m installing it and then I have to go back and fix something that’s all ready installed, it’s more challenging. Really at this point, I don’t have a choice,” he said in March.

Despite that challenge, Moore said today that, “I’m a year out, my goal is to get everything done before we deliver, so that’s what we’re driving for right now.”

“I don’t know that we’ll retire all the risk here over the course of the next year. I will tell you that we will have the entire system installed prior to delivery next March,” he elaborated.
“There may be some testing that has to be completed [after delivery], we’re going to take a look at where it makes sense to do that testing. If the last of the testing on AAG is the only thing keeping us from going to sea – the sea trials on the ship does not, we don’t launch and recover aircraft, we don’t really do that until June. So we’ll take a look at it. And if we’re talking a handful of testers and it makes sense to get out to sea and test the rest of the ship and then maybe complete that [AAG] testing in the period between the end of March and June, which is when we’re supposed to launch and recover aircraft, we’ll take a look at that.”

The other new system on the flight deck, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) “is probably one of the best news stories in the program,” Moore said. The Navy finished no-load tests on Catapult 2, including 22 shots in one day, and “it worked like a champ.”

Catapult 2 is set for dead-load testing next month, which involves catapulting large, wheeled, steel vessels weighing up to 80,000 pounds off the front of the ship to simulate the weight of an actual aircraft.

Catapult 1 will follow shortly behind, with no-load testing next week. Construction on Catapults 3 and 4 will wrap up soon so testing can begin shortly afterwards, Moore said.

Overall, the ship is 90-percent complete, with 53 percent of the compartments turned over to the ship’s crew – which is “significantly further ahead of where we were on CVN-77,” Moore noted. The crew will move aboard in August.

“We’re certainly not without our challenges,” Moore said, but “we’re in a good position. … We’re in a position we’d like to be [in] with 308 days to go.”

[surfgun]

http://news.usni.org/2015/05/28/peo-...vering-on-time


The program executive officer for aircraft carriers told USNI News he is confident the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) will deliver on time despite delays in the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) program.

Rear Adm. Tom Moore said Thursday that the AAG setbacks created about four to six weeks of schedule pressure to the ship, but he is striving to make up that time. Moore said in March that the General Atomics-built component had a design flaw, but the solution that has been implemented seems to be working well, he told USNI News.

“They put a winch, if you will, at the end of the water twister to rotate the entire assembly so they can wrap the cable around the purchase cable drum. That’s worked fine,” he said.

Most of the arresting system has been installed, and shipbuilders are now adding the final section, the cable shock absorbers – which Moore said are very large and go in a confined space. Newport News Shipbuilding is installing the cable shock absorbers now, at the same time workers put the non-skid coating on the flight deck, which Moore called “a kind of a ballet” to do simultaneously.

Moore said in March that the improved AAG design would have to be tested at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst, but for scheduling reasons he couldn’t postpone installation while awaiting the test results.

“If Lakehurst uncovers something on the system that has to be fixed, the risk I’m taking is I’m installing it and then I have to go back and fix something that’s all ready installed, it’s more challenging. Really at this point, I don’t have a choice,” he said in March.

Despite that challenge, Moore said today that, “I’m a year out, my goal is to get everything done before we deliver, so that’s what we’re driving for right now.”

“I don’t know that we’ll retire all the risk here over the course of the next year. I will tell you that we will have the entire system installed prior to delivery next March,” he elaborated.
“There may be some testing that has to be completed [after delivery], we’re going to take a look at where it makes sense to do that testing. If the last of the testing on AAG is the only thing keeping us from going to sea – the sea trials on the ship does not, we don’t launch and recover aircraft, we don’t really do that until June. So we’ll take a look at it. And if we’re talking a handful of testers and it makes sense to get out to sea and test the rest of the ship and then maybe complete that [AAG] testing in the period between the end of March and June, which is when we’re supposed to launch and recover aircraft, we’ll take a look at that.”

The other new system on the flight deck, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) “is probably one of the best news stories in the program,” Moore said. The Navy finished no-load tests on Catapult 2, including 22 shots in one day, and “it worked like a champ.”

Catapult 2 is set for dead-load testing next month, which involves catapulting large, wheeled, steel vessels weighing up to 80,000 pounds off the front of the ship to simulate the weight of an actual aircraft.

Catapult 1 will follow shortly behind, with no-load testing next week. Construction on Catapults 3 and 4 will wrap up soon so testing can begin shortly afterwards, Moore said.

Overall, the ship is 90-percent complete, with 53 percent of the compartments turned over to the ship’s crew – which is “significantly further ahead of where we were on CVN-77,” Moore noted. The crew will move aboard in August.

“We’re certainly not without our challenges,” Moore said, but “we’re in a good position. … We’re in a position we’d like to be [in] with 308 days to go.”

[surfgun]

Dead load testing began on the 5th of June.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r3FnbNByFmY

[popillol]

Can't post in any other thread.


Well, I was going through another site, came across an interesting discussion:
What if Japan changes side to China? With all the technology, reserves and assets outside its territorial limits, won't USA crumble under the combined weight? After all, 50 years down the line, Japan will have to live right next to China.
Just like Israel secretly supports the monarchs/dictators (may be) of its hostile neighbours to tame general hostility of their respective citizens.

What would USA do to save itself?

[jlvfr]

What if Japan changes side to China? With all the technology, reserves and assets outside its territorial limits, won't USA crumble under the combined weight?

Why?... considering their common history...

Besides, even right now, China has more than enough tech, comabined with massive numbers, to take on Japan. All they need is carriers. Failing that, subs with missiles will do.

Besides, if you're talking 50 years, then Japan will have a far more pressing problem: population. Even now, it has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. That means a future large population drop...

[popillol]

Why?... considering their common history...

Besides, even right now, China has more than enough tech, comabined with massive numbers, to take on Japan. All they need is carriers. Failing that, subs with missiles will do.

Besides, if you're talking 50 years, then Japan will have a far more pressing problem: population. Even now, it has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. That means a future large population drop...

Continued in the MMRCA thread, my bad! The site is not working properly, so posted it 4 times by mistake.

[surfgun]

Here some videos of cat testing.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/06/...7721434562290/

[TopHatter]

Sailors Begin to Move Aboard Gerald R. Ford

NEWPORT NEWS -- Hundreds of sailors assigned to the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier have now begun to live on the ship as the carrier enters its final stages of construction at Newport News Shipbuilding.
About 240 mostly "junior sailors" moved aboard the Ford on Monday "and will be living full time on the ship," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sean Robertson, the ship's public affairs officer.

Another 80-100 sailors will be on the Ford each night, as the crew works rotating 24-hour "duty" shifts aboard the ship, Robertson said.

With the carrier docked pierside at the Newport News yard, the crew also ate its first prepared meal aboard the ship on Monday. The ship's sponsor -- Susan Ford Bales, the former president's daughter -- helped to serve the meal.

Prime rib, crab legs, shrimp and salmon were on the menu, while a seven-foot-long cake in the shape of an aircraft carrier was also cut and served in the celebratory event, the shipyard said in a news release.

The carrier's commanding officer, Capt. John F. Meier, called Monday's move-in "the tipping point for the Ford."

"The ship we are building will be their home and will serve the Navy and the nation's need in defense of our country for the next 50 years," added Rolf Bartschi, the shipyard's vice president of the Ford construction project, in a written statement.

About 1,600 Navy sailors are now assigned to the $13 billion warship, the first in a new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The crew will be ramped up to more than 2,600 by the time the Ford is delivered to the Navy next spring.

While most of the carrier's crew will still go home at night, any Ford sailor who wants to live aboard the ship can do so, Robertson said. "Every sailor has a rack (bed) on board the ship," he said.

The 1,600 sailors now assigned to the Ford have been going to the ship each day, working to ramp up its various departments, Robertson said. "Our sailors are involved in bringing the ship to life," he said. "The sailors are preparing their departments and their equipment to get the ship to delivery."

The medical area is up and running with doctors, nurses and corpsmen, while the galley is now making meals. The combat systems department is getting its information technology up and running.
The Ford's kitchen and eating spaces have been redesigned on the carrier, which the shipyard said provides shorter waits at chow time for sailors.

The living quarters on the Ford are an improvement over the Nimitz-class carriers, the yard and Navy said. Each living unit will sleep a maximum of 86 sailors, down from the 200 sailors on the Nimitz-class berthing areas. Sailors will also have access to separate recreation areas, multiple gymnasiums and improved air conditioning.

One of the Ford's key improvements is its newly designed nuclear reactors, which can pump out more than 2.5 times the electricity of the previous Nimitz-class reactors. That will allow the ship to use more electric-based components -- including in its aircraft launching system -- rather than the previous steam-driven parts.

"Since the first Sailor checked aboard in 2013, we've been focused on crew move aboard," Donnie Novak, the Ford's command master chief, said in a written statement. "I couldn't be more proud of what our Sailors and the shipyard workers have accomplished. They've built the foundation that will allow every Ford sailor in the next 50-plus years to call this ship home." Link

[TopHatter]

U.S. Navy Ordered to Put Costliest Carrier Through Shock Testing

Top Pentagon officials have ordered the Navy to conduct shock tests at sea for its new aircraft carrier over objections from the service, which says the requirement may delay deployment by as long as six months.

Navy officials have argued that postponing full shock testing of the $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford, the costliest U.S. warship, until as late as 2025 is justified because its components are being fully tested, it’s designed to be hardened against combat shocks and it’s being evaluated through modeling and simulation.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, the Defense Department’s No. 2 civilian official, decided otherwise and directed that the tests be completed before deployment of the ship designated CVN 78 and built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., according to a memo sent to the Navy and a spokeswoman for the service.

The test “will be conducted to ensure the survivability of the CVN 78 design is understood prior to beginning operational deployments,” Frank Kendall, the undersecretary for acquisition, wrote on Aug. 7 to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, conveying Work’s decision.

In a shock trial, underwater charges are set off to assess how well a ship can withstand them. A crew is on board, and the test isn’t intended to damage equipment. The results are used to judge vulnerabilities and design changes that may be needed.

Pentagon Debate
The decision ordering the testing by Work, a former Marine who served as Navy undersecretary, is part of continuing debate inside the Pentagon over testing the Ford carrier. It has pitted the Navy against the Pentagon’s director of combat testing and at least three other civilian officials who all pushed for the test.

The chief tester, Michael Gilmore, has said that if the carrier performs as the Navy maintains, the process should take no more than three months.

More broadly, the debate reflects tensions between the military services, which want to field new weapons systems as soon as possible, and testing specialists who have gained clout since Congress created the office of combat testing in 1983, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a June report.

Conducting tests on the Ford before deployment would delay the return to an 11-carrier fleet, the number mandated by Congress, the Navy has said.

The Navy has operated with 10 carriers with the retirement of the USS Enterprise in 2012. Extended deployments of the remaining ships have placed stress on crews, the service has said.

Potential Vulnerabilities
Pentagon leaders considered the test’s timing and implications and its impact on the deployment schedule, Kendall’s spokeswoman, Maureen Schumann, said in an e-mail.

After discussions with the Navy, the leaders “concluded that impacts on operational deployments did not outweigh the utility of obtaining information about potential vulnerabilities, which could be revealed through testing,” she said.

Work made “the right decision,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said in an e-mail.

McCain, an Arizona Republican, has pressed the Navy to do the testing that he said “will mitigate the risks of integrating several new technologies, improve the design of future carriers, and, most importantly, increase” the vessel’s survivability and the “ability of the crew to survive battle damage.”

Navy Notified
Commander Thurraya Kent, a Navy acquisition spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the service “has been notified of the decision” and “will move forward as directed.”
James Thomsen, who was the Navy’s principal civilian deputy for acquisition, wrote Kendall on May 20 extolling the Ford’s progress as validating the service’s rationale for a test delay.

“These improvements significantly reduced the risk of mission-critical failures in a combat shock environment but don’t eliminate them completely,” Thomsen wrote. “While there is some risk of deploying in advance of the shock trial, the Navy considers that this is low-risk and acceptable.”

In its report on the defense authorization bill for fiscal 2016, H.R. 1735, the Senate Armed Services Committee said the Ford’s new catapult, arresting system and radar “as well as a reliance on electricity rather than steam to power key systems” mean “there continues to be a great deal of risk in this program.”

The Senate version of the bill, now in negotiation in a House-Senate conference committee, would add $79 million for the shock test and a requirement for the Navy to certify that it will be performed no later than Sept. 30, 2017.

It also would hold up $100 million in procurement spending on the second carrier in the new class, the USS John F. Kennedy, until the Navy submits its certifications. The House version doesn’t have those provisions.

The Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, unlike its House counterpart, also would provide the $79 million for testing in its proposed fiscal 2016 spending bill. Link

[surfgun]

The Navy’s newest aircraft carrier may see a two-year delay in its maiden deployment, after Pentagon officials announced last month it would be put through shock trials before being allowed overseas.

The Pentagon originally said the decision could delay the carrier by six months – as first reported by Bloomberg News – but the Navy’s assistant deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy (OPNAV N3/5B) told reporters today that the delay could be up to two years.

“The addition of the shock trials is modifying the deployment schedule. As it stands now, there is a significant delay in being able to deploy the Gerald R. Ford,” Rear Adm. Jeffrey Harley said after a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
“We are reviewing ways in which we can mitigate the deployment schedule and the presence requirements.”

Capt. Thom Burke, director of fleet readiness (OPNAV N43), said after the hearing that the length of the delay would depend on how well the carrier performs in the test, which uses live underwater explosives to test the survivability of a ship’s system under extreme conditions.

“A shock trial is an uncertain event. What’s going to break when you do it?” he said.
“So there’s a window of uncertainty there as to how significant is the shock trial, how well is the ship going to do? It’s a brand new ship. Why do you do a shock trial? You do it because it’s a brand new class of ship. If it goes to design then nothing breaks and you don’t have that two years. But if a lot of things end up needing to be repaired then it’s going to be longer. So it’s pretty uncertain, it’s a big window.”

Harley added that U.S. Fleet Forces Command is reviewing ways to keep up its global carrier presence with only 10 carriers – Ford will bring the fleet back up to the congressionally mandated 11 carriers – for an even longer amount of time. Ford is expected to commission next year and would enter the fleet in the early 2020s, so Harley said the Navy had plenty of time to come up with a plan in the event that Ford needs significant repair work after the test.

Due to the delays in the manufacture of Ford, the Navy had pushed to conduct the shock tests — a test using live explosives to test the ship, crew and systems in a near combat situation — to the second ship in the class, John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).

However, they were overruled by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).

In an Aug. 7 memo from Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Frank Kendall to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Kendall directed the Navy to fund the shock gets as part of the Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget submission and provide OSD a full plan for the tests by December.

“The operational implications of any delay to CVN-78 entering the CVN deployment cycle caused by scheduling the [shock tests] prior to initial deployment are acknowledged and were considered, “read a portion of the memo cited in Defense News.
http://news.usni.org/2015/09/10/carr...o-shock-trials

[85 gt kid]

How come it will take over 4 years to join the fleet as they say?

[TopHatter]

How come it will take over 4 years to join the fleet as they say?

I think the "2 years" means if something big/expensive/difficult to replace breaks during the shock test.

As far as the rest of it, that's just a natural consequence of introducing a first-in-class ship, that size, with that much new stuff crammed into it.
It's probably easier to list what's "old school" on that ship than to list the bleeding edge stuff.