New improvements get Ronald Reagan crew ready for action - Around the Fleet - Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier under construction - Brief Article

All Hands, Feb, 2002 by Ronald Reagan

Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Ronald Reagan, the ninth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is currently under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va., and due to be delivered to the fleet in 2003 with the latest technological advances in design and combat systems.

These advances include flight-deck configuration, primary flight control, aircraft arresting gear, jet-blast deflectors, aircraft fueling and integrated communications and advanced network systems.

A change that will set Ronald Reagan apart from other carriers is the flight deck configuration. The new design has shifted the angle of the landing area slightly to the port side.

"It gives the carrier the ability to launch F-14 Tomcats from catapult No. 2, while simultaneously 'trapping' on the angle just a few feet away," said Chief Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling)(AW) Jonathan Reed, Ronald Reagan's leading aircraft director. "This will be the only carrier in the fleet that can do it. It's incredible."

Innovations with the carrier's arresting gear will also make it unique. Ronald Reagan will operate with three arresting wires instead of four. The ship actually has four wires; however, only three are in operation at any one time. The new threewire arresting gear design can withstand more aircraft landings than the old design due to stronger wir sheaves.

According to the carrier's Catapult and Arresting Gear Maintenance Officer, LT Charles Huntington, "Having one arresting wire down helps reduce the impact due to maintenance time. We can work on one arresting wire machinery while the other three wires are safely recovering aircraft."

"This new design will reduce our maintenance requirements by half, by increasing the time interval between inspections and overhauls, and will also reduce costs" said ABEC(AW) Jeffery Potoczeck who had the opportunity to perform maintenance on the prototype system at Naval AirEngineering Station Lakehurst, N.J.

Another benefit of this system, according to Reed, will be that the arresting gear engines will be more accessible to flight line crews.

The ship also has the Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System, IFLOLS. This system is designed to increase sensitivity in visible glideslope deviations for pilots and improve stabilization, reliability and maintenance rates.

New jet blast deflectors with a one-panel design will also improve safety on the flight deck. The deflectors, which now have a side-panel cooling loop, will better prevent hot exhaust gases from harming personnel, equipment or other aircraft on the flight deck.

In addition, a new fiber optic integrated communications and advanced network (ICAN) control system will operate Ronald Reagan's jet fuel system. This means instant information will be available on the fuel system status and fuel quantity indicators while logged into the system.

Ronald Reagan also has a redesigned state-of-the-art primary flight control station, giving a 270-degree view of all aircraft in the carrier's airspace.

This larger, expanded panorama ensures better visibility of operations and control of the precise actions on the flight deck. That, in turn, gives way to a safer working environment for Ronald Reagan's crew.

These innovations will not only provide a safer working environment and take advantage of the most recent advances in carrier design, but will also make Ronald Reagan the most technologically advanced aircraft carrier in the world.

Photographs of Ronald Reagan's construction can be found at www.reagan.navy. mil/construction.htm. For more information on the ship, go to www.reagan.navy.mil.