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Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) Tested on Ford-class Aircraft Carrier at HII Shipyard

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Naval Industry News - USA
 
 
 
Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) Tested on Ford-class Aircraft Carrier at HII Shipyard
 
Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has successfully tested the Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). PALS is a radar system that provides final approach and landing guidance to aircraft to ensure successful landings on the flight deck.
     
Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has successfully tested the Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). PALS is a radar system that provides final approach and landing guidance to aircraft to ensure successful landings on the flight deck.
A special instrumented F-18 Super Hornet flew within about 500 feet of Gerald R. Ford 10 times during the testing, which verifies the proper functionality, alignment and operation of the PALS equipment and its subsystems. Photo by HII
     
A special instrumented F-18 Super Hornet flew within about 500 feet of Gerald R. Ford 10 times during the testing, which verifies the proper functionality, alignment and operation of the PALS equipment and its subsystems. While the PALS technology is used on Nimitz-class carriers, Gerald R. Ford’s system is upgraded and modified for the new class’ island location and other design and technology changes. The dual band radar, also new to the Ford class, supported testing of the PALS.

“Aircraft landing precision is at the core of an aircraft carrier’s mission,” said Rolf Bartschi, Newport News’ vice president, CVN 78 carrier construction. “This test program ensures that the systems are working together as they were designed to work before we take the ship to sea.”
     
Newport News Shipbuilding has successfully tested the Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). Video by HII
     
Gerald R. Ford represents the next-generation class of aircraft carriers. The first-in-class ship features a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults, improved weapons movement, an enhanced flight deck capable of increased aircraft sortie rates, and growth margin for future technologies and reduced manning. Ford has been under construction since November 2009 and was launched in 2013.

Link to Gerald R. Ford Class (CVN-78) Aircraft Carrier technical datasheet