The U.S. Navy has released photos of the first arrested landing of an F-35C Lightning II<\/a> on the PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The operation, conducted on Oct. 13, 2026, marks the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier, shortly after the Kennedy achieved preliminary acceptance<\/a> by the service.<\/p>\n The aircraft carrier is currently underway conducting Aircraft Compatibility Testing, which assesses the operational capabilities of the ship\u2019s aircraft launch and recovery equipment with U.S. Navy aircraft. The Kennedy employs the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults<\/a> and the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) for launch and recovery, respectively.<\/p>\n The F-35s employed in the test, part of the Patuxent River F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF), are attached to the \u201cSalty Dogs\u201d of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23<\/a>. Two F-35s are visible in the images, with the second aircraft also carrying inert GBU-38 JDAM bombs as external stores.<\/p>\n The Navy has not yet released details about the ACT campaign for the second Ford-class vessel. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the lead ship of the Ford class, completed ACT in January 2020<\/a> after 16 days at sea and the launch and recovery of 211 aircraft.<\/p>\n <\/a>A U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II, attached to the \u201cSalty Dogs\u201d of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, makes an arrested landing on the flight deck aboard PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), marking the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier. | Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kaitlyn Bailey<\/p>\n It is unclear if the Kennedy\u2019s ACT will be shorter, however it is likely to similarly conduct testing with all the aircraft types currently in service with the Navy. Notably, the F-35C was the only aircraft type that was not included in the ACT of the USS Ford, while the C-2 Greyhound will be the only aircraft tested on the USS Ford which will not be tested on the Kennedy as it was recently retired<\/a>.<\/p>\n The PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is currently completing the required testing<\/a> ahead of the commissioning into the U.S. Navy, after which it will assume the designation USS (United States Ship), replacing the PCU designation. The aircraft carrier is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in March 2027.<\/p>\n The ship set sail for the first time<\/a> under its own power from the HII facility in Newport News, birthplace of all U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers, on Jan. 28, 2026, after being laid down in 2015. The Kennedy took longer than Ford to be completed because of various delays which shifted the timelines, as well as a Congressional mandate to deliver the new ship with the modifications required to operate F-35C Lightning II fighters<\/a>, which are missing on the Ford.<\/p>\n The Kennedy incorporates some major design changes compared to the Ford, including the AN\/SPY-6(V)3 radar, whose variants are being retrofitted on Flight III Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers and developed to equip the Navy\u2019s newest frigates, aircraft carriers and amphibious warships. This replaces the AN\/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) and AN\/SPY-4 Volume Search Radar (VSR) combo carried by the Ford.<\/p>\n <\/a>Two F-35 test pilots from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), fly F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>\n Similarly to the Ford, the Kennedy will retain the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) weapons handling systems. While these systems have faced well-documented reliability and maintenance challenges<\/a>, the Navy is working to fix the issues and improve the performance.<\/p>\n \u201cAt 1,092 feet in length and 100,000 tons, CVN 79 incorporates more than 23 new technologies, comprising dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems,\u201d says the Navy on the Kennedy\u2019s official page<\/a>. \u201cThese innovations will support a 33% higher sortie generation rate at significant cost savings when compared to Nimitz-class carriers.\u201d<\/p>\n The service also explained the Gerald R. Ford class offers a reduction of approximately $4 billion per ship (a second page<\/a> mentions over $5 billion) in life cycle operations and support costs during its 50-year service life, compared to the earlier Nimitz class. For comparison, the Navy said the total ownership cost for a Nimitz-class ship is $32.1 billion in FY 04 constant year dollars, and the total ownership cost for a Ford-class carrier is expected to be $26.8 billion, half of which is allocated to the direct and indirect costs of manpower for operations and maintenance of the ship.<\/p>\n After entering service, the Kennedy is due to be homeported at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in the state of Washington. This will make it the first Ford-class aircraft carrier based on the U.S. West Coast.<\/p>\nPCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)<\/h3>\n
![<\/a>A U.S. Navy F-35C Lightning II, attached to the \u201cSalty Dogs\u201d of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, makes an arrested landing on the flight deck aboard PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), marking the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier. | Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kaitlyn Bailey<\/p>\nIt is unclear if the Kennedy\u2019s ACT will be shorter, however it is likely to similarly conduct testing with all the aircraft types currently in service with the Navy. Notably, the F-35C was the only aircraft type that was not included in the ACT of the USS Ford, while the C-2 Greyhound will be the only aircraft tested on the USS Ford which will not be tested on the Kennedy as it was recently retired<\/a>.<\/p>\nPCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)<\/h3>\nThe PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is currently completing the required testing<\/a> ahead of the commissioning into the U.S. Navy, after which it will assume the designation USS (United States Ship), replacing the PCU designation. The aircraft carrier is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in March 2027.<\/p>\nThe ship set sail for the first time<\/a> under its own power from the HII facility in Newport News, birthplace of all U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers, on Jan. 28, 2026, after being laid down in 2015. The Kennedy took longer than Ford to be completed because of various delays which shifted the timelines, as well as a Congressional mandate to deliver the new ship with the modifications required to operate F-35C Lightning II fighters<\/a>, which are missing on the Ford.<\/p>\nThe Kennedy incorporates some major design changes compared to the Ford, including the AN\/SPY-6(V)3 radar, whose variants are being retrofitted on Flight III Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers and developed to equip the Navy\u2019s newest frigates, aircraft carriers and amphibious warships. This replaces the AN\/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) and AN\/SPY-4 Volume Search Radar (VSR) combo carried by the Ford.<\/p>\n<\/a>Two F-35 test pilots from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), fly F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>\nSimilarly to the Ford, the Kennedy will retain the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) weapons handling systems. While these systems have faced well-documented reliability and maintenance challenges<\/a>, the Navy is working to fix the issues and improve the performance.<\/p>\n\u201cAt 1,092 feet in length and 100,000 tons, CVN 79 incorporates more than 23 new technologies, comprising dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems,\u201d says the Navy on the Kennedy\u2019s official page<\/a>. \u201cThese innovations will support a 33% higher sortie generation rate at significant cost savings when compared to Nimitz-class carriers.\u201d<\/p>\nThe service also explained the Gerald R. Ford class offers a reduction of approximately $4 billion per ship (a second page<\/a> mentions over $5 billion) in life cycle operations and support costs during its 50-year service life, compared to the earlier Nimitz class. For comparison, the Navy said the total ownership cost for a Nimitz-class ship is $32.1 billion in FY 04 constant year dollars, and the total ownership cost for a Ford-class carrier is expected to be $26.8 billion, half of which is allocated to the direct and indirect costs of manpower for operations and maintenance of the ship.<\/p>\nAfter entering service, the Kennedy is due to be homeported at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in the state of Washington. This will make it the first Ford-class aircraft carrier based on the U.S. West Coast.<\/p>\n<\/a>An F-35 test pilot from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), flies an F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An F-35C Lightning II made an arrested landing on the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), marking the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy has released photos of the first arrested landing of an F-35C Lightning II on the PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5855,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions\/5855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/F-35C_Kennedy_1.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>Two F-35 test pilots from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), fly F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>\nSimilarly to the Ford, the Kennedy will retain the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) weapons handling systems. While these systems have faced well-documented reliability and maintenance challenges<\/a>, the Navy is working to fix the issues and improve the performance.<\/p>\n\u201cAt 1,092 feet in length and 100,000 tons, CVN 79 incorporates more than 23 new technologies, comprising dramatic advances in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems,\u201d says the Navy on the Kennedy\u2019s official page<\/a>. \u201cThese innovations will support a 33% higher sortie generation rate at significant cost savings when compared to Nimitz-class carriers.\u201d<\/p>\nThe service also explained the Gerald R. Ford class offers a reduction of approximately $4 billion per ship (a second page<\/a> mentions over $5 billion) in life cycle operations and support costs during its 50-year service life, compared to the earlier Nimitz class. For comparison, the Navy said the total ownership cost for a Nimitz-class ship is $32.1 billion in FY 04 constant year dollars, and the total ownership cost for a Ford-class carrier is expected to be $26.8 billion, half of which is allocated to the direct and indirect costs of manpower for operations and maintenance of the ship.<\/p>\nAfter entering service, the Kennedy is due to be homeported at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton in the state of Washington. This will make it the first Ford-class aircraft carrier based on the U.S. West Coast.<\/p>\n<\/a>An F-35 test pilot from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), flies an F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An F-35C Lightning II made an arrested landing on the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), marking the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy has released photos of the first arrested landing of an F-35C Lightning II on the PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5855,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions\/5855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/F-35C_Kennedy_2.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>An F-35 test pilot from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), flies an F-35C Lightning II fighter aircraft to the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) in the Western Atlantic Oct. 13, 2026. | Source: F-35 Lightning II Pax River ITF\/Dane Wiedmann<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An F-35C Lightning II made an arrested landing on the PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), marking the first time an F-35C lands on a Ford-class aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy has released photos of the first arrested landing of an F-35C Lightning II on the PCU (Pre-Commissioning Unit) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5855,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5854\/revisions\/5855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerotrend.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/F-35C_Kennedy_3.jpg\"){kind=link}