iStockphoto / Oleksii Liskonih
The USS John F. Kennedy is the US Navy‘s latest and greatest aircraft carrier with technology and might the likes of which the rest of the world simply cannot begin to comprehend.
Currently, the USS John F. Kennedy is in Newport, Virginia docked on the James River where it recently underwent testing on the supercarrier’s electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), an electromagnetic catapult system the US Navy uses to launch ship from the top deck.
The system was first debuted two years ago on the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship in the history of planet earth, and it will also be deployed on the USS John F. Kennedy as part of a $400 million upgrade to the ship.
During recent testing of the newly installed electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), they were firing 80,000 pound ‘cars’ into the James River from the ship. In reality, they are ‘car-like structures’ made of graduated weights to weigh 80,000 pounds. Footage of the testing was released and it is glorious:
This is the very definition of the ‘dude will see this and say ‘hell yea” meme that’s been going around for months. I truly hope that people on the deck were able to place bets on how far the ‘cars’ would launch in each trial because if there’s one thing dudes love it’s betting on anything and everything.
For what it’s worth, the F/A-18 Super Hornet is the US Navy’s most common/primary aircraft. That plan weighs approximately 32,000 pounds. So the 80,000 pound ‘cars’ being launched represent more than enough capacity for the US Navy’s most commonly used aircraft.
In another video from 8 years ago, the US Navy showed the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) in action:
The future is now.