US Navy awards General Atomics $15 million EMALS contract for USS Enterprise Ford-class carrier.

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Atomics a new $15.58 million contract modification to continue EMALS corrective engineering aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-80), reinforcing that the Ford-class carrier program is still refining its core launch architecture more than a decade after development began. Announced by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command on May 21, 2026, the work focuses on power-conversion reliability, network modernization, and launch-system integration issues that directly affect sortie generation, aircraft readiness and the carrier’s ability to sustain high-tempo air operations in contested environments.

The latest upgrades target transformer rectifier failures, digital synchronization weaknesses and fiber-optic network improvements inside the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, a technology designed to replace steam catapults with precision-controlled electromagnetic launches capable of supporting both heavier strike aircraft and lighter unmanned platforms. The continued engineering effort highlights how the Ford-class program has effectively evolved into a long-term modernization cycle centered on electrical power management, automation, and next-generation carrier aviation, with EMALS remaining critical to the Navy’s future approach to distributed air warfare and high-end maritime deterrence.

Related topic: US Navy requests $4.2 Billion to accelerate USS William J. Clinton Ford-class carrier procurement

The new USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is connected directly to its two predecessors by physically recycling 16 tonnes of steel from the 1961 nuclear carrier and incorporating four original windows saved from the decorated World War II carrier. (Picture source: US DoD)

On May 21, 2026, the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command awarded General Atomics a $15.58 million modification for additional Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) work aboard the future Ford-class carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80), extending a procurement and sustainment framework initiated on May 8, 2014. The original sole-source firm-fixed-price contract initially financed long-lead EMALS and Advanced Arresting Gear procurement for USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) and CVN-80 before expanding into a combined production, integration, logistics, and corrective engineering effort exceeding $1.7 billion.

The latest modification funds migration of the EMALS network architecture toward single-mode fiber infrastructure, correction of Prime Power Interface Subsystem transformer rectifier deficiencies, associated installation work aboard CVN-80, and hardware storage management through April 2028. Previous modifications included $36.4 million in May 2021 for 18 AAG Water Twister Mod-II shipsets, $9.63 million in September 2021 for Generation 3 EMALS position sensor blocks, $42.85 million in January 2023 for hardware and software integration aboard CVN-79 and CVN-80, and $27.96 million in December 2023 for 140 EMALS position sensor blocks and transformer rectifier engineering support.

The modification sequence indicates that the Ford-class launch and recovery architecture remains in an active corrective engineering phase more than a decade after the original award. EMALS replaced the C-13 steam catapult system installed aboard U.S Navy carriers since the Forrestal class during the 1950s, ending a launch architecture based on steam accumulators, hydraulic braking systems, and mechanical pistons operating through parallel launch cylinders beneath the flight deck. Steam catapults achieved high operational maturity aboard Nimitz-class carriers but required extensive steam piping networks, heavy maintenance manpower and large freshwater production capacity.

Navy engineering studies linked to the CVN-21 program concluded that steam systems conflicted with reduced crew objectives and future integration of lightweight unmanned aircraft because launch force modulation remained relatively inflexible. EMALS replaced steam pressure with electromagnetic acceleration generated through a linear induction motor integrated directly into the Ford-class electrical architecture. The transition represented the largest modification to carrier launch technology since the introduction of steam catapults during the Cold War and required Ford-class ships to incorporate substantially larger electrical generation and pulsed power distribution margins from the outset.

The EMALS architecture is organized around four principal subsystems consisting of the linear induction motor, energy storage subsystem, power conversion subsystem and digital control subsystem. The launch track itself functions as a linear electric motor roughly 91 meters long, while launch energy is stored kinetically through four rotating disk alternators providing 121 megajoules each for a combined energy capacity near 484 megajoules. During launch operations, stored rotational energy is converted into electrical output, cycloconverters regulate voltage and frequency, and energized stator coils sequentially accelerate the shuttle carrying the aircraft.

Maximum launch profiles permit aircraft masses up to 45 tonnes to reach speeds near 240 km/h within two to three seconds, while recharge intervals remain close to 45 seconds between launches. Unlike steam catapults that apply fixed mechanical acceleration curves, EMALS continuously adjusts the tow force through closed-loop digital feedback using distributed sensors and automated control software. The system was intended to reduce airframe stress, improve end-speed precision and support lighter unmanned aircraft that legacy steam systems struggled to launch efficiently.

Despite these intended advantages, EMALS entered fleet service before achieving required reliability thresholds, and testing throughout the 2010s repeatedly exposed deficiencies affecting power conversion, synchronization logic, and subsystem durability. Developmental testing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst recorded 201 failed launches out of 1,967 attempts during a 2013 test sequence, while operational evaluations aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) identified recurring issues involving transformer rectifiers, software synchronization faults, launch motor durability, overheating electrical components, and repeated position sensor failures.

A January 2021 Director, Operational Test and Evaluation assessment measured achieved reliability at 181 Mean Cycles Between Operational Mission Failure compared with a Navy requirement of 4,166 MCBOMF after 3,975 catapult launches conducted between November 2019 and September 2020. Government Accountability Office evaluations during 2022 concluded that EMALS and Advanced Arresting Gear reliability targets were unlikely to be achieved before the 2030s because several subsystems still required redesign and configuration refinement. Nevertheless, the Navy continued deployment because Ford-class carriers had already been structurally optimized around EMALS architecture.

By June 2022, EMALS and AAG aboard CVN-78 had surpassed 10,000 launch and recovery cycles while corrective modifications continued affecting braking choppers, launch motors, transformer rectifiers, and position sensors. USS Enterprise (CVN-80), the third Ford-class aircraft carrier, is under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. Steel cutting began during August 2017, keel laying occurred on April 5, 2022, and the ship’s delivery schedule shifted from March 2028 to July 2030 before being revised again during 2026 to March 2031 because of sequence-critical material delays, supply chain disruption, and launch system integration complexity.

The carrier will displace 100,000 tonnes at full load, measure 337 meters in length, feature a 41 meter beam and draw 12 meters of water, while propulsion will be provided through two Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors driving four shafts. Planned air wing capacity exceeds 75 aircraft, depending on operational configuration, with the ship designed around EMALS, Advanced Arresting Gear, enlarged electrical generation margins, reduced crew requirements, and redesigned sortie generation workflows intended to increase launch tempo.

Compared with Nimitz-class carriers, Ford-class ships reduce crew requirements by several hundred personnel while targeting sortie generation increases near 25%. CVN-80 is also the first Ford-class carrier constructed entirely within a fully digital design and manufacturing environment from the beginning of fabrication. CVN-80 inherits the operational legacy of USS Enterprise (CV-6), the Yorktown-class carrier commissioned in May 1938 that participated in Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf while surviving repeated battle damage throughout the Pacific campaign.

The carrier displaced 20,000 tonnes, earned 20 battle stars together with the Presidential Unit Citation and became closely associated with the fast-carrier doctrine developed during the Second World War. CVN-80 incorporates direct material continuity with the wartime carrier through integration of four original portholes recovered from CV-6 and installed aboard the new ship during construction. The ship also inherits the legacy of USS Enterprise (CVN-65), commissioned in November 1961 as the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

CVN-65 used eight Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors, displaced 93,000 tonnes at full load, sustained speeds above 56 km/h and participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War operations, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom before deactivation in 2017. Sixteen tonnes of steel recovered from CVN-65 are being recycled into CVN-80 construction. Although CVN-80 shares the same baseline architecture as USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the ship incorporates incremental modifications derived from nearly a decade of corrective engineering and operational testing aboard CVN-78.

These changes include revised EMALS hardware baselines, updated launch system networking architecture, modified power electronics, altered installation sequencing and expanded digital integration between shipyard construction workflows and onboard systems architecture. The broader Ford-class program experienced persistent schedule disruption because multiple immature technologies entered serial production simultaneously, including EMALS, Advanced Arresting Gear, Advanced Weapons Elevators, the Dual Band Radar and the new A1B reactor architecture.

Ships consequently progressed through construction while major subsystems remained under redesign, creating concurrency risks that forced corrective modifications during assembly rather than after technological stabilization. USS Gerald R. Ford required years of post-delivery corrective work before reaching stable deployment conditions, while CVN-79 and CVN-80 were additionally affected by supply-chain disruptions and integration complexity involving electrical distribution and launch system architectures. The continuing engineering modifications awarded under contract modifications increasingly transformed the Ford-class launch and recovery architecture into a long-term iterative modernization effort rather than a conventional serial production program based on stable technological baselines.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.