USS Ford - Ups and Downs
As we all know, the new aircraft carrier, the USS Ford, has had many problems, delays, and cost overruns due, mainly, to the Navy’s use of concurrency in attempting to develop new technologies at the same time as production. Predictably (well, for everyone but the Navy), the attempt has failed. The EMALS launch system and the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) have been two notable failures. However, there is another new technology that has been just as problem plagued but has not received as much attention – the ship’s Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE). These elevators are used on carriers to move munitions from the ship’s magazines to the flight deck and handling areas for subsequent loading onto the aircraft. The elevators are quite small compared to the main aircraft elevators.
One would think that small weapons elevators would be straightforward, well known technology and one would be correct. However, the Navy opted to abandon the well established elevators of the Nimitz class and, instead, develop a brand new electromagnetic elevator that works similar to the EMALS catapult system. As with the EMALS, development has been difficult and the Ford was delivered with non-functional elevators, all 11 of them.
Here’s more evidence of the lack of elevator installation upon delivery of the Ford. A NavSea official stated,
The Post Shakedown Availability is planned for 12 months, with the critical path being Advanced Weapons Elevator construction … (5)
Note the use of the word “construction” as opposed to repair or fine-tuning or modification or something similar. The elevators appear to have simply not been installed or, at least, not in anything resembling a usable form!
And,
The Navy announced plans to repair the ship’s 11 “Advanced Weapons Elevators” — all of which have been non-functional since the carrier first took to the water.
Currently, two of those malfunctioning elevators are being used to help “to identify many of the remaining developmental issues for this first-of-class system,” the Navy says. They expect to bring the full suite of elevators online with this round of repairs, but were sure to include in their statement that all the elevator systems “should have been complete and delivered with the ship delivery” in May 2017. (1)
If the Navy acknowledges that the elevators should have been “complete and delivered with the ship delivery”, why did the Navy accept the ship? They should have refused delivery until the elevators were installed and functioning.
To review, the elevators were initially developed by Federal Equipment Company (FEC) along with MagneMotion and Northrop Grumman Newport News. FEC received a contract from Northrop in 2005 to build 11 elevators for the Ford aircraft carrier. To be clear, these are the smaller weapons elevators, not the three large aircraft elevators.
On paper, the elevators are quite impressive. Of course, paper claims always are!
FEC’s Advanced Weapons Elevator demonstrates a 24,000-pound lift capacity, with 150% overload capacity. Designed to move at 150 feet per minute, it accelerates to full speed in 2 seconds. The state-of-the-art elevators increase capacity over 200% and speed by 50% compared to the legacy elevators.
Features include motor thermal protection, emergency braking, and [a] "smart control system" that estimates the payload weight. (2)
FEC has built a test facility housing a full scale elevator with 32 feet of travel. (2)
The Advanced Weapons Elevators are similar to the EMALS catapult system in that they use linear motors and magnetic effects to move the object - the elevator, in this case, instead of an aircraft.
Here’s a brief summary of how the elevator works: (3)
- Linear motors are attached to each corner of the elevator
- Magnets inside each motor interact with electric coils lining the shaft
- A current pulses through the coils, lifting the magnets and platform
- Magnets hold the elevator in place
Of course, all this capability comes at a cost. The AWE is around twice the cost of existing Nimitz class weapons elevators. (3)
Interestingly, the government (Naval Surface Warfare Center) posted notice in Feb 2018 of their intent to award a sole source contract to Hunt Valve Actuator (Virginia) for an elevator unit, installation, parts, support, logistics, etc. (4) I don’t know if this means that the Navy has gotten fed up with FEC and decided to switch suppliers or if they’re simply developing an alternate source (then why the sole source designation?) or some other reason.
Aside from the idiotic use of concurrency, which the Navy seems absolutely wedded to in the face of repeated, overwhelming evidence of its failure, there are other potential issues with the electromagnetic elevators.
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| Advanced Weapons Elevator |
Electromagnetic Shielding. One of the major faults of the EMALS catapult system is that it uses very large and very powerful electric motors which, unbelievably, are not electromagnetically shielded. Former CNO Greenert once referred to them as “electromagnetic beacons” when discussing emissions control (EMCON) protocols. The stray electromagnetic radiation will keep anyone who’s interested well informed about the Ford’s location.
The question arises, are the AWE elevators shielded? If a major component like the EMALS is not shielded, it is highly unlikely that the elevators are. Of course, given the size and emissions of the EMALS, the additional stray emissions from the elevators are unlikely to matter much.
This is just another example demonstrating that the Navy has forgotten how to design ships for combat.
Repair. Yet another major fault of the EMALS catapult system is that single catapults – there are four – cannot be repaired without taking all of the catapults down. The electrical supply system was designed in such a way that a single catapult cannot be electrically isolated for repairs. The catapults are all up or all down. The inability to isolate and repair a single catapult is a breathtakingly stupid flaw for a combat system. The question is does this same flaw apply to the weapons elevators? I have no idea but it’s a question that demands an answer.
In summary, the weapons elevators are an all too common example of what is plaguing the Navy today. The desire to rush non-existent technology into production is causing cost overruns, schedule delays, and serious credibility issues. If the Navy would only show a little patience and let new technologies mature in the lab, where they belong, they would come out far ahead in the long run.
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(1)News Rep website, “Repairs on the USS Gerald R. Ford engines and elevators to cost another $120 million”, Alex Hollings, 16-May-2018 ,
(2)Federal Equipment Co. website,
(3)WVXU website, “The Navy's Next Generation Of Weapons Elevators Was Designed Here In Cincinnati”, Ann Thompson, 9-Apr-2018 ,
(5)The National Interest website, “The Reason the Navy Is Exploding Bombs Near Its New Nuclear Aircraft Carrier”, Kris Osborn, 14-May-2018 ,
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