By Emelie Rutherford
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) said he will be keeping a close eye on development of the new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) for the next-generation aircraft carrier, and wants assurances the Navy will be doing the same thing.
The sea service last month reaffirmed its decision to use EMALS on the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), which has been slated for a 2015 commissioning, instead of reverting to a traditional steam-catapult system because of concerns regarding cost growth and schedule slips with the technologically advanced EMALS (Defense Daily, April 17).
The decision to stick with EMALS represented a balance of factors including cost, schedule, and technical performance, and is expected to ensure the Ford‘s delivery by Northrop Grumman [NOC] Shipbuilding Newport News is not delayed, the Navy said.
Taylor, the chairman of the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, told Defense Daily he recently visited the facility in Tupolo, Miss., where General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is developing EMALS, and found it to be “very impressive.”
While he said he has no major concerns with the nascent EMALS program, he wants assurances from the Navy that someone is keeping a close eye on it, so it does not encounter problems that delay the Ford‘s delivery. He said his fears are based on how the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) proceeded, when technical problems were divulged late in one ship’s development.
“(Navy acquisition chief) Secretary (Sean) Stackley has made the decisions, we are going with the electromagnetic launch; he made a decision; I respect that,” Taylor said. “If it works and when it works it is going to be a huge technological advance. What we don’t need is to get to the 80 or 90 percentile on constructing the Ford and then discover that we got a problem that either is going to delay the delivery or run up the cost significantly, or both.”
Thus, Taylor said he has asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead to ensure one naval official is clearly in charge of overseeing the EMALS effort up until acceptance of testing of the prototype, and then another official is held accountable for the launch system until the Navy accepts the Ford.
“Two people whose careers, credibility will depend on the delivery of this product on time and on budget,” Taylor said.
“We just want someone bird-dogging this every day to make sure that it turns out right,” he added. “We’ve had problems (with other ship programs) in the past.”
The lawmaker told Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn during a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week that he is concerned if EMALS doesn’t work, “we could wake up with a $7 billion helicopter carrier that was supposed to be an aircraft carrier.”