The USS Gerald R. Ford is a first-in-class aircraft carrier and the lead ship of her class. The carrier can carry up to 90 aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, EA-18G Growler, and MH-60R/S Seahawk. The ship is equipped with an AN/SPY-3 and AN/SPY-4 active electronically scanned array multi-function, multi-band radar, and an island that is shorter in length and 20 feet taller than that of the Nimitz class. The carrier is designed to accommodate the new Joint Strike Fighter carrier variant aircraft (F-35C), but aircraft development and testing delays have affected integration activities on CVN-78. The carrier is also equipped with advanced arresting gear and the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS). The USS Gerald R. Ford left Naval Station Norfolk for her maiden deployment on October 4, 2022, and her Carrier Strike Group 12 included Carrier Air Wing 8, USS Normandy, Destroyer Squadron 2 with USS Ramage, USS McFaul, and USS Thomas Hudner, auxiliaries USNS Joshua Humphreys and USNS Robert E. Peary, and the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Hamilton.