Over the past few weeks, the Navy has tested its new aircraft launching system by using it to propel huge, weighted sleds off the deck of its newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. But its true value lies in future applications—namely its ability to catapult a far greater of range of aircraft into the sky, service officials said.In the past, the Navy has had to design carrier-launched aircraft around the operating envelopes of the Mk 7 arrested landing gear…
