NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Navy's newest aircraft carrier accepted the ship's first advanced weapons elevator.
USS Gerald R. Ford is setting the tone for 2019 with more positive developments. The new equipment will be able to move up to 24,000 pounds of ordnance at 150 feet-per-minute. This is in contrast to the 10,500 pounds at up to 100 feet-per-minute on a Nimitz-class carrier.
The first stage of the elevator was turned over to the ship on December 21.
The elevator was tested and certified by engineers at Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding, where the ship is currently working through its post-shakedown availability.
USS Gerald R. Ford is the first Ford-class aircraft carrier and its the first new carrier design in over 40 years.
“This will allow us to load more aircraft faster, and in the long run, increase our overall sortie generation rates,” said Lt. Cmdr. Chabonnie Alexander, Ford’s Ordnance Handling Officer.
The new ship design also offers a chance to streamline the overall movement and assembly of weapons.
Sailors on Ford need to complete developed familiarization, operations, and maintenance training to become better educated on how to work with and maintain the elevators.
“Getting this elevator turned over to the ship and allowing our Sailors to get hands-on training on the elevator will help in two ways,” said Alexander. “One, it will help in the training and understanding of the system itself, and two, to work out any bugs that remain with the system during our PSA.”
