USN reports further progress on Ford Advanced Weapons Elevators

Another three Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWEs) are working and being rigorously tested aboard aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), said Rear Admiral James Downey, USN programme executive officer for carriers.

Two of those elevators are expected to be certified by the second or third quarter of this year, Rear Adm Downey said on 22 January during a briefing inside Ford ’s utility AWE as the ship conducted Aircraft Compatibility Testing (ACT) in the Atlantic Ocean off the US East Coast.

Another, lower-stage elevator 5, is expected to be certified within the “next few months,” he said. It is the elevator closest to being turned over next.

Turnover of the three AWEs would give the Ford crew seven of 11 certified elevators.

“It will give us magazine access forward and aft,” Rear Adm Downey said.

All of the upper stage elevators -- 1, 2, 3 and the utility elevator -- have been certified and turned over to the ship.

All of the work is being done on the lower-stage elevators. Access to the lower stage elevators gives the ship the complete ability to get ordnance from the lower magazines all the way to the flight deck.

As other US Navy officials have said, Rear Adm Downey noted work is not a question of overcoming technical challenges. “It’s principally finishing the construction.”

He explained, “The spaces are being finished.” The spaces, he said, weren’t finished to ensure they “met the fit-up requirements” for door and hatches.