Advanced Arresting Gear Program

ADVANCED ARRESTING GEAR PROGRAM

Under contract to the Naval Air Warfare Center, the Turboelectric Arresting Gear team, led by General Atomics, is performing the Component and Technology Development (CTD) phase of an Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system. The AAG system will provide the Navy with important new operational advances for safely and efficiently recovering carrier-based, tailhook-equipped aircraft. The system will be back-fitted onto existing CVN 68 class carriers and forward-fitted onto CVN 21 and future carriers.

The goal of GA’s AAG concept is to significantly improve the arresting capabilities of the Navy’s carriers while simplifying operation, maintenance, and supportability requirements, and reducing life-cycle costs.

The GA Team’s "turboelectric" system design is based on the proven water turbine systems used in land-based arresting gear, adding a lighter synthetic cable system and an electromagnetic motor to meet the Navy’s demanding performance goals. The motor will actively reduce cable tension peaks during the dynamic phase of the arrestment, and will accurately control both the hook load during arrestment and the final stopping position of the aircraft.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Carmelo Rodriguez, Program Manager
carmelo.rodriguez@ga.com