A fighter jet prepares for take off in a 2024 file photo. Mari Yamaguchi/AP Photo
The Navy could end up spending billions to satisfy a new demand from President Donald Trump to rip out the high-tech electromagnetic systems it uses to launch jets from its newest class of aircraft carriers in favor of older, steam-powered catapults.
Trump signed a national security memo on Thursday, commanding the change for the nation’s Gerald R. Ford class of aircaft carriers, according to an exclusive report in The Wall Street Journal.
The last ship in America’s fleet built using steam catapults was the USS George H.W. Bush, constructed in 2009, according to the outlet, which cited one expert who believed replacing electromagnetic catapults with the older methods would cost billions.
“Electric is more reliable,” Brian Clark, of the Washington think tank the Hudson Institute, told The Journal. “If I can turn these components to be electric instead of steam, it eliminates all the steam-related mechanical parts.”
Nearly a decade ago, that wasn’t the case.
The tech was less reliable during Trump’s first term, The Journal explained, pointing to a Trump pledge in a 2017 interview with Time to get the Navy to return to using “goddamn steam.”
But now steam-powered catapults are so out of date, re-introducing them would be a feat unto itself, according to Navy Outlook.
[Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System] is therefore integrated deeply into the architecture of the ship, crossing 48 separate ship construction zones. Removing it from a mature design would have consequences extending far beyond the machinery immediately underneath the flight deck. A steam catapult requires high-pressure steam to be drawn from the propulsion plant and distributed through substantial pipework to the catapult machinery, along with the associated water, condensation and maintenance arrangements. The spaces and infrastructure necessary to support this equipment were deliberately designed out of Ford.
The move quickly drew critics, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), an astronaut and retired Navy captain who logged more than 5,000 flight hours and more than 375 carrier landings during his years of service, according to his official biography.
“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. Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullsh*t,” he wrote on X.
The White House defended the move, acknowledging to The Journal in a statement that going back to steam would “reactivate” part of the maritime industry.
“This decision will result in carriers that are enabled by battle-tested steam and hydraulic systems that are more resilient and robust than the present, more exquisite, follow-on systems,” the White House said. “It will also reactivate portions of the maritime industrial base that are easier to scale.”
Electromagnetic tech has been thoroughly battle-tested in Trump’s second term, Navy Outlook maintained.
In a sustained real-world deployment, supporting Trump’s newfound taste for military interventions, off South America and then in the Middle East, the Ford’s EMALS was thoroughly tested. Whatever criticism can be made of the tortuous development history, its electromagnetic launch system has now demonstrated its maturity.
The directive comes as the Navy is facing allegations of horrid conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where sailors have reportedly jumped overboard amid a lack of hygiene supplies, rotten food and a seemingly never-ending deployment.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier deployed Nov. 21 from its home base in San Diego with 5,000 aboard for a mission that was originally set to end in May. It has been in the Arabian Sea, supporting the war in Iran.
The Navy has denied the claims of increased mental health problems aboard the Lincoln, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed Thursday the situation had been “completely misrepresented.”
Families of those aboard the Lincoln have started speaking out, sharing messages from those aboard.
One woman whose 19-year-old spouse spent an hour in the water after leaping from the Lincoln told MS NOW the Navy hasn’t been forthcoming.
“I think that it was handled very poorly because they didn’t inform me and they didn’t want me to know, and they’re just trying to cover this up,” said the woman, who was granted anonymity.
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