
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division [HII] said it recently started topside testing of the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on the next Ford-class aircraft carrier, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79). The company started dead-load testing on catapults one and two by using large-wheeled car-like structures weighing up to 80,000 pounds to simulate the weight of carrier aircraft. The structures are launched off the carrier’s bow into the James River. This step began after NNS previously started with…