US Navy Tested the MAGIC CARPET Software to Assist F/A-18E/F/G Landing on Aircraft Carriers

a
Naval Forces News - USA
 
 
 
US Navy Tested the MAGIC CARPET Software to Assist F/A-18E/F/G Landing on Aircraft Carriers
 
The US Navy recently field-tested its new Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies (MAGIC CARPET) software. The goal of the software is to automatically assist F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and E/A-18G Growlers during their carrier landing phase.
     
ATLANTIC OCEAN (April 20, 2015) An F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is conducting training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher D. Gaines/Released)
ATLANTIC OCEAN (April 20, 2015) An F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is conducting training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Christopher D. Gaines/Released)
     
"This underway marked the first use of the MAGIC CARPET technology on an aircraft carrier," said Lt. Cmdr. Dan Marzluff, assistant air operations officer. "This software greatly reduces misses and wave-offs, which translates into more time on-mission and makes us an overall more effective force."

MAGIC CARPET is software designed for F/A-18E/F/G aircraft that automatically adjusts the jet's speed and angle of attack in relation to the intended landing surface. Initial tests of the system took place in early February at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.

"The majority of flight operations with the system were touch-and-goes," said Marzluff. "We didn't have to actually land to determine how the software takes the aircraft to the flight deck."