Fighter Jets Will Soon Land on Aircraft Carriers Using GPS-Based JPALS 20 May 2021, 15:19 UTC ·
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For most civilians, the challenges of landing an aircraft on a carrier at sea are great unknowns. We got some semblance of an idea on how that is thanks to the countless documentaries out there and movies like Top Gun, but we’ll never truly understand what it takes. 1 photo
From the same documentaries and movies, we got the notion that pilots use both instruments and their heavily-trained intuition to land on a ship. Up to this point, though, mostly intuition, combined with experience, was what helped pilots slam on the deck of a ship at just the right moment to be trapped by a wire and brought to a stop.
JPALS is a global positioning system based system that integrates with shipboard air traffic control and landing system architectures to guide fixed-wing tactical carrier aircraft with pinpoint approach and landings on nuclear aircraft carriers (CVN) and amphibious assault ships (LHA/LHD) in all weather and sea surface conditions.
“JPALS has reached a historic milestone, which supports our requirement to deliver, operate and maintain a Navy with a focus on our core roles of sea control and power projection,” said Cmdr. Jeff Doogie Dugard, Director of the Naval Airspace and Air Traffic Control Standards and Evaluation Agency. Dugard worked closely with the Naval Air Traffic Management Systems Program Office (PMA)-213 to ensure all requirements were met to demonstrate that JPALS will safely and effectively support U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation at sea.
F-35C aboard USS Carl Vinson. (Photo: USN)
USN can now provide precision landing for carrier-borne aircraft.
JPALS is therefore ready to provide precision approach and landing capabilities to carrier aircraft at sea in support of naval aviation operations worldwide, it added.
The USN declared IOC on 4 May after the successful installation, integration and flight certification of the first JPALS production unit aboard USS
Raytheon began JPALS system development and testing activities with the USN in 2008. It is a GPS-based system integrated with shipboard air traffic control to guide aircraft for precision deck landings in all weather and surface conditions.