17-07-09 Congressman expresses grave concern over EMALS

One of the more quixotic programs inside the Navy is the effort to develop an electro-magnetic launch system (EMALS),a new way to launch aircraft from carriers without resorting to tried-and-true but large and maintenance-intensive steam catapults.The next carrier to be built by the Navy,the Gerald R.Ford,will use the new system,but no aircraft have yet been thrown into the air by EMALS — an event not scheduled to take place until next year,although construction of the new ship already has begun.If the system doesn’t work,in the words of at least one critic,the Navy may be building “the world’s largest helicopter carrier.”Development of the EMALS by prime contractor General Atomics has been reported variously as going ahead despite technical problems,or — privately by some within the Navy and industry — as a technological disaster.This spring,the Navy’s leadership reviewed the program and reaffirmed the service’s confidence and commitment to installing EMALS in the new carrier rather than going back to a steam system.But doubts persist about whether EMALS will work, and on Thursday, the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee held what its chairman called,“the first in what I intend to be a series of hearings on this program over the next few years.”The chairman,Rep.Gene Taylor,D-Miss.,already has moved to increase accountability in the EMALS program by inserting into the House version of the defense authorization bill a provision that keeps the current EMALS program manager,Navy Capt.Randy Mahr,in his position through the testing period and initial production of EMALS units,despite his promotion to rear admiral.Mahr’s replacement will need to stay with the program through its introduction into service.Mahr and Capt.Brian Antonio,program manager for the Ford carrier program,were joined on the witness panel by Vice Adm.David Architzel,the Navy’s senior officer in its Pentagon acquisition office.The officers first presented a video showing EMALS and then explained a series of charts.That sort of technical detail brought a long series of questions from the panel’s ranking member, Rep. Todd Akin,R-Mo.,a former engineer,who sought to more fully understand the new technology developed for EMALS