wonder if the stroke will be progressive?
Posted on 05/20/2015 9:33:27 AM PDT by Rio
The Navy conducted the first-ever, shipboard, full-speed catapult shots using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) aboard the aircraft carrier Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Naval Sea Systems Command announced May 15.
The aircraft carrier Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) transits the James River during the ship's launch and transit to Newport News Shipyard pier three for the final stages of construction and testing. Ford was christened Nov. 9, 2013, and is under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipyard. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Aidan P. Campbell/Released)The aircraft carrier Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) transits the James River during the ship's launch and transit to Newport News Shipyard pier three for the final stages of construction and testing. Ford was christened Nov. 9, 2013, and is under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipyard. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Aidan P. Campbell/Released)
EMALS is a carrier-based launch system designed to expand the operational capability of the Navy's future carriers to include all current and future planned carrier aircraft. The recent test shots, known as "no-loads" because no aircraft or other loads were attached to the launching shuttle, successfully demonstrated the integrated catapult system. Using electromagnetic technology, the system delivers substantial improvements in system maintenance, increased reliability and efficiency, higher-launch energy capacity, and more accurate end-speed control, with a smooth acceleration at both high and low speeds. By allowing linear acceleration over time, electromagnetic catapults also place less stress on the aircraft.
"This is a very exciting time for the Navy," said Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers Rear Adm. Tom Moore. "For the first time in over 60 years, we've just conducted 22 no load test shots using electricity instead of steam technology."
During the tests, generators within the ship produced an electric pulse, which was passed through power conditioning electronics to linear motors just below the flight deck surface. This energy allowed for the linear motors to propel the launching shuttle down the catapult track in excess of 180 knots before bringing the shuttle to a stop at the end of the track.
The next phase of EMALS testing, scheduled for this summer, will involve launching "dead-loads" off of the bow of CVN 78 into the James River. "Dead-loads" are large, wheeled, steel vessels weighing up to 80,000 pounds to simulate the weight of actual aircraft. The dead-loads will be launched from each catapult using a specific test sequence to verify that the catapult and its components are operating satisfactorily.
To date PCU Gerald R. Ford is 90 percent complete and 1550 Sailors have reported for introduction and training. CVN 78 will be commissioned in March 2016.
I have searched for solid news references to validate the claim I repeated, and cannot find any official confirmation that Russians actually did disable the USS Donald Cook ship with an aircraft EW EMP device.
I retract my claim due to insufficient evidence it really took place.
Please see my post to redress retracting the claim that a Russian aircraft EW EMP disabled the USS Donald Cook last year. I cannot find a credible news source that verified it happened.
wonder if the stroke will be progressive?
My memory tells me a full external fuel tank was 2000 lbs plus the weight of the tank, which may have been 200 lbs.
It was so long ago...:)
Did they have a larger tank on the centerline? I was in during the Seventies, and recall they were 2000+ lbs.
LOL...if that was the case, can you imagine the Navy people just leaving it up to the engineers assuming they would design them to work similarly to the current ones, then when they go to test, the engineers tell them
ENGINEER: “Sorry...you can’t have full external fuel tanks to get shot off with this thing...you have to empty them out.”
PILOT: “What? What the Hell is this thing good for, then?”
ENGINEER: “Well, we don’t have all that dirty, nasty, steam, and this thing, with a gazillion electron volts generates one awesome pulse! And you can fling bags of garbage soooo far in front of the the ship that the Russian trawlers can’t get to them before they sink!”
LOL, or they DON’T tell them, and the tanks get ripped off on launch!
Pabianice, where did you get that info from? I just have a hard time believing that you can’t launch with full external tanks. I know the state of American engineering is degraded, but I can’t believe they would allow THAT compromise. It sounds crazy.
Ah. I just went and did a search, they simply have to adjust the algorithm of the software that controls it...didn’t sound like a bit deal in a couple of articles.
That makes sense. If it was standard steam, they would probably have to make physical changes to the infrastructure, but with this, they probably just moderate the pulse in a specific way via the software to decrease the initial shear force.
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