
The 11th and final Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was completed and turned over to the ship’s crew on December 22. The long-delayed elevators are one of the technical issues that has driven costs up on CVN-78, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier. The AWEs are a new technology that use electromagnetic motors and are designed to move ordnance through the ship more quickly with enhanced carrying capacity as well as reduced manning, maintenance and…