Senior U.S. Navy officials have decided to retain the Advanced Arresting Gear as the recovery system aboard Ford-class aircraft carriers.The Naval Air Systems Command said Monday the AAG Resource Requirements Review Board chose to continue with AAG instead of reverting to the Mk-17 legacy recovery system after the board completed a review in November 2016.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, co-chaired the board.
NAVAIR noted that AAG faced delays in developmental tests as well as design challenges in the water twister component over the past years.
Rear Adm. Mike Moran, the Navy’s program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, said the government and contractor team implemented a build-test-fix software methodology and hardware changes in an effort to boost AAG’s performance.
The system has conducted 1,400 dead-load arrestments and 351 test arrestments of the F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft as of December 2016.
AAG has moved forward with a land-based test program and currently undergoes commissioning tests aboard USS Gerald R. Ford, NAVAIR added.
