General Atomics EMALS Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System

General Atomics EMALS Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, which uses a linear electromagnetic accelerator motor, will replace the current C-13 steam catapults.

General Atomics EMALS Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, which uses a linear electromagnetic accelerator motor, will replace the current C-13 steam catapults.

In January 2007, The US Navy announced that the new class would be called the Gerald R Ford Class. The first two ships, Gerald R Ford (CVN 78) and CVN 79, will be commissioned in 2015 and 2019 and further ships of the class will enter service at intervals of five years. A total of ten Ford class carriers are planned with construction continuing to 2058.

"The navy's first two aircraft carriers, CVN 78 and CVN 79, will be commissioned in 2015 and 2019."

CVN 78 will replace USS Enterprise (CVN 65) which entered service in 1961 and will approach the end of operational life by 2015. The total acquisition cost of the CVN 21 is expected to be $11.7bn.

General Atomics has been awarded the contract to develop the Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) which uses a linear electromagnetic accelerator motor. EMALS demonstrators have been tested at the Naval Air Systems Command (NASC) Lakehurst test centre in New Jersey. The EMALS system will replace the current C-13 steam catapults.

EMALS technology offers the potential benefit of finer aircraft acceleration control, which leads to lower stresses in the aircraft and pilots and provides a slower launch speed for unmanned air vehicles and allows a wider window of wind-over-deck speed required for the launch sequence.

In addition, a contract for the development of an advanced turbo-electric arrestor gear has been awarded to General Atomics. The electro-magnetic motor applies control to the synthetic arrestor cable to reduce the maximum tensions in the cable and reduce the peak load on the arrestor hook and on the aircraft fuselage.