NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News Shipbuilding successfully tested the Precision Aircraft Landing System (PALS) on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
PALS is a radar system that gives final approach and landing guidance to aircraft as they land on the flight deck.
A special-instrumented F-18 Super Hornet flew within 500 feet of Gerald R. Ford ten times during the testing to verify proper functionality, alignment and operation of the PALS equipment and its subsystems.
The PALS technology is already used on Nimitz-class carriers but Gerald R. Ford’s system is upgraded and modified for the new class’ island location and other design and technology changes.
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