Escalation: Trump Orders Return to Steam Catapults
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the U.S. Navy to stop using electromagnetic aircraft launch systems on Ford-class aircraft carriers and return to steam catapults.
EMALS uses electric linear motors to launch jets; steam catapults use pressurized steam pistons. The electromagnetic system is newer and more complex, while steam gear is older but long proven at sea.
The memo covers future Ford-class hulls; accounts differ on whether it also requires removing EMALS already installed on carriers that are built or under construction.
Reversing course will require redesign and refit work and is expected to cost billions of dollars, with impacts on schedules for ships already under contract.
The catapult directive was part of a broader Navy and shipbuilding push in the same memo, which also calls for expanding the industrial base, including establishing a fifth public shipyard.
Synthesized from 44 sources
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AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources
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