U.S. Navy Prepares Arresting Gear Upgrade for Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier to Boost Flight Operations.

The U.S. Navy is preparing a major reliability upgrade for the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the latest generation of U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, after the system delivered much stronger performance during the carrier’s second operational deployment. According to the Navy’s April 21, 2026 Modernized Selected Acquisition Report, the improvement strengthens Ford’s ability to recover aircraft consistently during sustained high-tempo flight operations.

AAG reached an instantaneous operational availability rate of 0.987 during the first six months of the deployment, indicating a major gain in system readiness. Higher arresting-gear reliability directly supports sortie generation, reduces disruption to carrier air operations, and improves the combat endurance of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier.

Related Topic: U.S. Navy considers Ford-class aircraft carrier redesign to match Trump's WWII island style preference

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) aircraft carrier operates at sea as the U.S. Navy advances reliability upgrades to its Advanced Arresting Gear, a key system for sustaining high-tempo aircraft recovery and sortie generation during carrier operations. (Picture source: U.S. Department of War/Defense)

The report states that the U.S. Navy USS Gerald R. Ford CVN 78 aircraft carrier had recovered 36,863 fixed-wing aircraft since commissioning in 2017, including 9,634 during its second operational deployment as of March 2026. These figures indicate that the U.S. Navy is now evaluating the Advanced Arresting Gear under sustained fleet conditions rather than only through developmental testing, an important step after reliability problems affected the system during the early years of the Ford-class program. AAG was developed to replace the hydraulic arresting equipment used on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers and is designed to recover a wider range of aircraft weights and speeds, including heavier combat aircraft and future lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles, while reducing maintenance demands over the carrier’s service life.

One of the strongest indicators of improved performance came during a four-day Sortie Generation Rate demonstration involving U.S. Navy USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and Carrier Air Wing Eight. During the event, the carrier established a new single-day cyclic operations recovery record of 134 aircraft while averaging 19 combat-loaded sorties per cycle, with AAG maintaining an instantaneous operational availability of 1.000 and recording no operational mission failures. This matters operationally because carrier effectiveness depends not only on the number and capability of embarked aircraft, but also on how quickly they can be launched, recovered, rearmed and returned to combat. Any interruption in arresting gear availability can disrupt the entire flight-deck cycle and reduce sustained sortie generation during high-tempo operations.

The U.S. Navy’s performance data also shows that CVN 78 achieved a 45-second operational aircraft recovery interval on July 7, 2025. System analysis supports recovering 28 aircraft in 21 minutes, while earlier land-based testing demonstrated 28 recoveries in 22.3 minutes using a single-wire configuration. Together, these figures indicate that AAG is moving closer to the recovery tempo needed for dense cyclic flight operations, where rapid aircraft turnaround is essential to maintaining strike, air-defense, electronic-warfare and surveillance missions over extended periods.

The improvement is particularly significant because the system installed aboard Gerald R. Ford currently uses a three-wire, three-engine configuration, while the original operational availability requirement was established around a three-wire, four-engine design. The Navy reports that cumulative operational availability remains below the formal threshold, but it has addressed the principal reliability degraders and substantially improved instantaneous performance. During the first six months of the carrier’s second deployment, AAG reached an instantaneous operational availability of 0.987, close to the 0.985 threshold defined for system maturity.

The next major reliability step is planned for 2029, when the U.S. Navy expects to field an alternative fourth-engine solution. According to the acquisition report, this modification is expected to improve reliability by roughly an order of magnitude while also increasing operational availability. Other upgrades planned for the same period include engine-room isolation changes, a Wire 2 backup barricade capability and enhanced high-power fuse protection, which the Navy estimates could more than triple reliability compared with the current configuration. These changes are intended to reduce the risk that a component failure could interrupt aircraft recovery during sustained carrier operations.

The U.S. Navy is pursuing software modernization in parallel. The U.S. Navy is evaluating AAG software performance in the operational environment aboard CVN 78 and has already resolved several high-priority issues through targeted software patches. A longer-term stability effort is intended to address latency and non-deterministic behavior, with installation aboard the carrier also expected in fiscal year 2029. For Gerald R. Ford, the combined hardware and software improvements are directly linked to combat endurance because greater arresting gear reliability reduces the likelihood that aircraft recovery becomes a limiting factor during prolonged periods of high sortie demand.

AAG is also being prepared for expanded interoperability with the F-35C carrier-based stealth fighter. The Navy conducted F-35 risk-reduction testing in fiscal year 2022, followed by deadload compatibility testing in 2023 and manned compatibility testing beginning in January 2024, with the Aircraft Recovery Bulletin expected in fiscal year 2027. Completing that process is important as the F-35C assumes a larger role in carrier air wings, because combining the fighter’s low-observable strike and sensor capabilities with a more reliable launch-and-recovery architecture strengthens the Ford class as a means of sustaining tactical aviation at sea.

The AAG program is tied directly to the broader expansion of the Ford class, with four shipsets planned for CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford, CVN 79 John F. Kennedy, CVN 80 Enterprise and CVN 81 Doris Miller. The Navy’s April 2026 fielding plan identifies operational fielding for CVN 79 in fiscal year 2027, CVN 80 in fiscal year 2031 and CVN 81 in fiscal year 2032. General Atomics is responsible for AAG production under contracts that also cover the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, including a combined EMALS/AAG production contract for CVN 79 and CVN 80 valued at about $1.74 billion and a separate CVN 81 pre-production and production contract valued at approximately $1.27 billion.

The modernization effort nevertheless carries long-term cost and sustainment pressure. The Navy estimates total AAG acquisition spending at $3.123 billion in then-year dollars under the fiscal year 2027 budget position, while operating and support costs are projected at roughly $3.76 billion in constant 2017 dollars across four shipsets and an expected 50-year service life. The program has also identified 40 bundled obsolescence changes that must be incorporated into production and retrofitted into CVN 78, CVN 79 and CVN 80 to maintain a common fleet configuration, making configuration control and supportability increasingly important as more Ford-class aircraft carriers enter service.

As previously examined by [Army Recognition in its coverage of Ford-class carrier modernization], the combat value of the class depends on the combined performance of its nuclear propulsion, electromagnetic launch equipment, arresting gear and increasingly advanced carrier air wing. The same technologies are also drawing international interest, with France working with the U.S. Navy on AAG and EMALS integration for its future aircraft carrier and Rafale compatibility testing already completed as part of that effort. [Army Recognition’s coverage of France’s future nuclear-powered aircraft carrier] has highlighted how these systems could shape the next generation of French naval aviation.

For the U.S. Navy USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the operational significance of the 2029 AAG upgrade lies in reducing the probability that aircraft recovery becomes the bottleneck during intense flight operations. If the U.S. Navy achieves the reliability gains projected in the April 2026 acquisition report, Ford-class aircraft carriers will be better positioned to sustain high sortie rates, recover a broader mix of manned and unmanned aircraft, and preserve combat tempo during prolonged operations against a capable adversary.

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Written by Alain Servaes – Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group
Alain Servaes is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense industry.