Jet Sleds...

Neat! I'm a little surprised to hear there is a dwindling supply of J57s. I thought one of the big reasons they never re-engined B-52s was because we had warehouses lousy with parts.

Also, lol:

"The current reliability estimates for the [USS Geralad R. Ford EMALS] catapult and arresting gear systems are a small fraction of their projected target for the shipboard configuration, and an even smaller fraction of the required reliability.

The [Director, Operational Test and Evaluation annual] report says 201 launch failures have occurred out of a total of 1,967 launches.

“Based on available data, the program estimates that EMALS has approximately 240 mean cycles between critical failure in the shipboard configuration, where a cycle represents the launch of one aircraft,” the report says.

The report also highlights the Advanced Arresting Gear, or AAG, a technologically improved method of helping aircraft land on the flight deck of the carrier. The AAG is also being tested in Lakehusrt, N.J., and the report says that this system also experiences high rates of failure. There were nine arresting failures out of 71 attempts, the report claims.

“The Program Office estimates that AAG has approximately 20 mean cycles between operational mission failure in the shipboard configuration, where a cycle represents the recovery of one aircraft. Based on expected reliability growth, the failure rate is presently 248 times higher than should be expected,” the report says."​

Maybe just ditch EMALS and install a couple of J57 sleds. For recovery they could use the sled exhaust to provide more of a headwind. I don't know, is it time for Matlock yet?
 
So... An aircraft carrier literally can't go through a day's worth of ops without needing new arresting gear. Gotta love our military budget spending.
 
So... An aircraft carrier literally can't go through a day's worth of ops without needing new arresting gear. Gotta love our military budget spending.
Without reading the report (no time at present), I think the arresting gear folks get a pass on this one, since the job is to take an airplane weighing multiple tens of thousands of pounds from (what I assume is roughly) 140 knots to no knots over a very short distance.

Watching the grease guys work on it on PBS's Carrier was pretty interesting.
 
I'll probably get banned from flying in Alaska, but I will never take back a negative comment about the lead sled!

Put a LYC 540 in a sled and I'd sleep better at night, but, sleds continue to amaze me at what they can do. It's even a known fact they crash good, I've seen a few where I've wondered how the pilot walked away. I personally like the long look and feel a 206 is like a short bed 3/4 ton truck, just doesn't look right.
 
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