The U.S. Navy has accepted USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) first Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) on Dec. 21.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Jan. 16, 2019) Chief Machinist’s Mate Franklin Pollydore, second from left, from Georgetown, Guyana, goes over safety procedures for the Upper Stage 1 advanced weapons elevator with Sailors from USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department. The elevator is the first to be delivered to the ship and marks a major milestone for Ford and the entire Ford-class of aircraft carriers. Ford is currently undergoing its post-shakedown availability at Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jeff Troutman/Released)
This is the first of 11 AWEs that are to be installed on the carried. All shipboard installation and testing activities of the AWEs are due to be completed before the end of the carrier’s post-shakedown availability (PSA) in July.
It can lift 24,000 pounds of ordnance at 150 feet-per-minute while the older elevators aboard the Nimitz-class can only haul 10,500 pounds at up to 100 feet-per-minute.
“This will allow us to load more aircraft faster, and in the long run, increase our overall sortie generation rates,” said Lt. Cmdr. Chabonnie Alexander, Ford’s ordnance handling officer.