Trump orders Pentagon to replace ‘complicated’ electric catapults despite cost warnings

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump on Thursday, August 13, ordered the Pentagon to redesign the Navy’s next aircraft carrier to use steam-powered catapults instead of the electromagnetic launch system installed on the service’s newest carriers.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the newer system as too complicated and expensive, dating back to his first public comments on the issue in 2017.

His latest order directs the Pentagon to develop a plan to make the change on a carrier already under construction, despite warnings that doing so could significantly increase costs and cause delays.

Trump orders return to steam catapults

Trump signed a national security memorandum directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to develop a plan within 60 days to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) with steam catapults on the USS Doris Miller, the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier.

The memorandum also calls for replacing the carrier’s Advanced Weapons Elevators with hydraulic systems.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the decision to use electromagnetic technology instead of steam.

He first publicly raised the issue in 2017, describing the digital system as too complicated and arguing that steam would be easier to operate and repair.

“So I said, ‘What is this?’ ‘Sir, this is our digital catapult system,’” Trump said during an interview with Time in 2017. “It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.”

Trump continued, “I said, ‘No you’re not. You(’re) going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good’.” The president has continued to express his disappointment with the system nearly every year since then.

Last month, Trump again criticized the technology while speaking at the Army War College in Pennsylvania, arguing that steam catapults were easier to repair.

Navy warns Trump's redesign could raise costs

The decision affects the USS Doris Miller at a relatively advanced stage of construction. Its keel is scheduled to be laid by the end of 2026, with delivery currently expected in early 2034.

A senior Navy and industry leadership group had resisted changing the system because of the cost and complexity involved in modifying a carrier that was designed around EMALS.

General Atomics, which manufactures the electromagnetic launch system, said the company’s work on the new carrier was already nearly halfway complete and warned that changing course could create additional risks.

“With nearly 50% of production complete, changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks,” the company said.

Mark Kelly (D-Ariz) publicly criticized the decision. “I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships,” Kelly wrote. 

“Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best, ballrooms, bankruptcy.”

The memorandum also allows certain foreign shipbuilders with substantial US investments to temporarily build up to two ships in their parent shipyards.