Advanced Arresting Gear
Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) is a new system built by General Atomics for the U.S. Navy. It stops aircraft on the flight deck of the Navy’s newest Gerald R. Ford-class carriers and replaces the older MK 7 hydraulic gear used on the Nimitz-class. The AAG is designed to handle more aircraft types, including unmanned ones, and to need less manpower and maintenance.
How it works: It uses rotary engines connected to water-based energy absorbers (water twisters) with a large motor to finely control the stopping force. The water twister has movable plates that adjust how much resistance is created, giving variable energy absorption. The system faced early problems with the water twisters, which delayed testing for about four and a half years.
Key milestones: inert-load tests began in 2011, the first fly-in arrestment was in 2016, and the Runway Arrested Landing Site at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst has performed over 1,200 inert tests. The Navy said the AAG was unproven in 2016. The Ford carried out its first arrest landing and catapult launch with the AAG on July 28, 2017, and, by August 2, 2019, the Navy cleared the AAG for use with all aircraft types.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:49 (CET).