The U.S. Navy is testing the Advanced Arresting Gear, or AAG, the apparatus that slows a jet once it lands on a carrier.
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST -- The possibly extra noise on the Lakehurst side of the joint base is the testing of new arresting gear that will catch fighter jets landing on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, officials said.
The base said recently the communities near the Lakehurst side might extra noisier at times this summer, specifically in the Lakehurst and Manchester Township areas, due to aircraft operations.
This week the base posted on Facebook that the noise is related to the testing of the Navy's Advanced Arresting Gear, or AAG, the apparatus that slows a jet once it lands on a carrier.
And the company developing the system, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, said this week they had successfully conducted the first AAG arrestment of an F/A-18E Super Hornet jet at Lakehurst on March 31.
"The first aircraft arrestment marks a major milestone in demonstrating AAG performance and capability," Scott Forney, the company's president said in a statement.
The Navy plans to replace the current hydraulic, steam arresting system it uses on aircraft carriers with the AAG, starting with the new Gerald Ford-class of aircraft carriers, of which 10 are planned.
The Lakehurst base, specifically the Naval Air Warfare Center's Aircraft Division there, has long been home to developing and testing the systems that launch and land Navy jets on carriers, their webpage says.
The General Atomics company is using two facilities at Lakehurst, the Runway Arrested Landing Site (RALS) and the Jet Car Test Site.
The RALS is a 12,000-foot runway where testers can simulate aircraft carrier conditions and jets can safely have enough room to test arresting gear. The base says it's the only such facility in the world.
The Jet Car Test Site features tracks where the Navy can propel heavy devices called "dead loads" with the thrust of a jet engine and then test stopping - or arresting - them.
General Atomics said the AAG testing featured more than 1,200 successful dead load arrestments at the site.
A joint base spokeswoman said much of the Lakehurst-side testing this summer with jets will mainly be ground based and will not feature a lot of flying over residential areas.
However, also utilizing the Lakehurst base this summer, which also could lead to some noise, is one F-35C Lightning II jet from the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland.
The craft will be flying tests using Lakehurst's catapult equipment while a catapult at the Patuxent River base is temporarily unavailable this summer due to runway repaving, said William M. Couch, spokesman for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent.
The flights will typically occur during daylight hours Monday through Saturday, but may occur outside these times if required, he said.
Officials at both base said the military will work to mitigate noise impacts on the surrounding communities but such operations and training are essential for military readiness and testing of aircraft.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.