Builder of US Navy’s new class aircraft carrier looks towards lead ship’s upcoming trials
Sea trials for the US Navy’s (USN’s) lead Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier are expected to commence in the second quarter of 2016, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) officials told IHS Jane’s .
Gerald R Ford (CVN 78) is 96% complete at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia where the new carrier is being finished ahead of the trials. More than 2,300 compartments out of 2,607 have been turned over to the USN, said Rolf Bartschi, vice-president of CVN 78 construction.
A test programme on critical shipboard systems is in progress, including the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and dual band radar (DBR), Bartschi said.
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Original post janes.com
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