The U.S. Navy says it plans to decide by December whether to proceed with its troubled Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) program or pick an alternative landing system for future Ford-class aircraft carriers.

Responding to a draft report by the Department of Defense Inspector General (IG), Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley wrote that his office is studying the cost and time needed to equip the CVN-79, the next Ford-class carrier to be built, with an Mk 7 arresting system from the existing Nimitz-class carriers. The Navy’s AAG decision could also be influenced by a study of alternative systems it is conducting for Nimitz carriers.

A composite photo illustration representing the Ford-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Illustration: Huntington Ingalls.
A composite photo illustration representing the Ford-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Illustration: Huntington Ingalls.

“The Navy will consider both of these analyses, the revised AAG [acquisition program baseline] and the known life-cycle costs of the Mk 7 arresting system to determine whether AAG is an affordable solution for Navy carriers before deciding to go forward with AAG on future aircraft carriers,” Stackley wrote.

The IG released the final version of its report last week. General Atomics, AAG’s prime contractor, declined to comment.

The IG document recommends that the Navy perform “cost-benefit analyses to determine whether AAG is an affordable solution.” The development program has been plagued by technical problems and schedule delays, and its cost had jumped to $743.5 million as of October 2015, a $571.5 million increase from a 2005 estimate.

“Ten years after the program entered the engineering and manufacturing development phase, the Navy has not been able to prove the capability or safety of the system to a level that would permit actual testing of the system on an aircraft carrier because of hardware failures and software challenges,” the IG wrote. “This occurred because the Navy pursued a technological solution for its Ford-class carriers that was not sufficiently mature for the planned use, resulting in hardware failures to mechanical and electrical components and software modifications to accommodate those failures.”

Stackley said the Navy has been testing AAG on land, which should pave the way for shipboard testing with aircraft. A Navy official said in May that the first Ford-class carrier, CVN-78, was about 98 percent completed and would begin sea trials in August.