E-2D Airplane Tests Gerald Ford Carrier's Electromagnetic Launch, Arresting Gear - US Navy

An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye surveillance aircraft made the first ever arrested landing aboard the flagship for a new class of aircraft carriers, the Gerald R. Ford, as the vessel conducted sea tests of its controversial electromagnetic launch and arrest system, the Navy said in a statement on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2020) An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye surveillance aircraft made the first ever arrested landing aboard the flagship for a new class of aircraft carriers, the Gerald R. Ford, as the vessel conducted sea tests of its controversial electromagnetic launch and arrest system, the Navy said in a statement on Friday.

"For the first time in the ship's history, an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye made an arrested landing aboard USS Gerald R. Ford. The US Navy aircraft carrier is currently conducting at sea testing its electromagnetic aircraft launch systems and advanced arresting gear," the Navy said via Twitter.

The $13-billion aircraft carrier has a troubled history of cost overruns, do-over installations of first-of-its kind technology - including the electromagnetic launch-arrest system - and a Navy decision to begin building the ship as the vessel was still being designed.

President Donald Trump has criticized the launch system as an expensive and unnecessary perk and called on the Navy to revert to steam powered catapults used on previous aircraft carriers.