General Atomics advanced arresting gear system successfully completes first fly-in aircraft recovery

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GAEMS) on December 1, 2016, announced that the advanced arresting gear (AAG) system successfully completed the first fly-in aircraft recovery of an F/A-18E Super Hornet on October 13, 2016, at the runway arrested landing site (RALS) at joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. The F/A-18E fly-in recovery follows more than 200 successful rollin test arrestments at the site since March, and more than 1,300 dead-load arrestments.

“This marks another significant milestone in the successful demonstration and verification of AAG’s performance and capability,” stated Scott Forney, President of GA-EMS. “We’re tracking to a very aggressive testing schedule, and this fly-in recovery marks a major step towards AAG readiness for on- board testing on the Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).”

AAG is a turbo-electric system designed for controlled and reliable deceleration of aircraft recovery operations on carriers. AAG is installed onboard CVN 78 along with the GA-EMS Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which uses electromagnetic technology to launch aircraft from the deck of naval aircraft carriers. EMALS has successfully completed system testing on CVN 78.

“The fly-in recovery of the F/A-18 Super Hornet illustrates AAG’s capabilities to perform as predicted, under conditions similar to today’s carrier operations,” stated Andy Gibbs, AAG Chief Engineer at GAEMS. “We’re collecting data to support the development of an Aircraft Recovery Bulletin, a critical step towards arresting the aircraft on CVN 78. We look forward to continuing success as the AAG system undergoes planned testing activities for additional aircraft types and models.”