President Trump wants to scrap a San Diego company’s electromagnetic catapults on new aircraft carriers, ordering the Navy to return to century-old steam technology.
The advanced catapults produced by General Atomics are designed for “smooth, controlled aircraft launches that extend airframe life and reduce maintenance demands.” They are used on the USS Gerald Ford, the Navy’s newest operational carrier, which recently completed the longest deployment in carrier history.
But a presidential memo released Thursday calls on the Navy to submit a plan within 60 days “to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems” for carriers following the future USS Enterprise now under construction.
In his first term, Trump criticized the new technology, saying “digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.”
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, lambasted Trump’s order.
“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 bullshit,” said Kelly in a post on X.
In a statement to the U.S. Naval Institute, General Atomics said the decision not to proceed with electromagnetic catapults on new carriers “warrants careful reconsideration” because “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule and integration risks.”
The Navy has reportedly long fought Trump’s desire to return to steam technology on new aircraft carriers.
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