The Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation listed four critical components that may have reliability issues.
Land-based testing of the electromagnetic catapult system found that it fails after 240 launches, at this stage the system should have been functioning at 1250 launches without failures.
The advanced arresting gear is not doing better, it fails after 20 landings.
“Poor reliability of these critical systems could cause a cascading series of delays during flight operations that would affect [the ship’s] ability to generate sorties, make the ship more vulnerable to attack, or create limitations during routine operations,” according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe.
A number of other systems, such as communications gear, meanwhile, are performing at less than acceptable standards, according to the assessment by J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation. Gilmore concluded that the Navy has little choice but to redesign key components of the ship.
The Navy needs a come-to-Jesus awakening with its future carrier force. That, and the aircraft it plans to have in the carrier airwing--the Super Hornet and the F-35C--will be unable to take on emerging threats.
H/T-Alert 5
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