Trump orders Navy to drop EMALS for steam catapults on USS Doris Miller

Trump has ordered the Navy to replace EMALS with steam catapults on USS Doris Miller. The move could raise costs, complicate construction and reverse staffing and performance gains.

In Short

• Pentagon and Navy must submit rollback plans within two months
• USS Doris Miller is slated as the first carrier for changes
• General Atomics warned redesigning mid-build could trigger delays, costs and risks

US President Donald Trump has directed the Navy to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, from the newest type of US aircraft carrier and return to older steam catapults, according to a memo issued on Thursday. The order could cost billions of dollars and would reverse the use of a system that needs fewer sailors and is described as easier to maintain.

The memo asks the Pentagon and the Navy to give Trump plans within two months to remove EMALS and replace the Ford-class carrier’s electromagnetic weapons elevators. The fourth Ford-class carrier, the USS Doris Miller, has been named as the first ship to get the changes, while the USS Gerald R. Ford, the USS John F. Kennedy and the USS Enterprise would remain unchanged.

The move follows years of Trump attacking the magnetically powered catapult system used to launch fighter jets from carrier decks. His criticism goes back to at least 2017, when he told Time magazine that the new system was “not good” and “doesn’t have the power” of the older steam system. “You’re going to goddamned steam,” Trump said at the time, and he has returned to the issue at rallies and other public events.

The decision comes as the US military is seeking funding from Congress for its priorities and the Navy is struggling to staff its ships. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said last month that the cost of the Iran war had risen to USD 37.5 billion, as Republicans prepared a USD 95 billion package for the military and other White House priorities. Hegseth called the supplemental war funding an “urgent, necessary” injection of money and said Trump’s proposed USD 1.5 trillion defence budget would be a generational investment in the military. The House narrowly passed both measures, but the Senate is yet to act and is due to return in September.

Trump’s memo also said one of the issues facing shipbuilding is the Navy’s constant design changes, “which have resulted in cost growth, delays, and cancellations”. But redesigning a ship after its plans have already been finalised is expected to be difficult. General Atomics, which makes EMALS, said in an email to The Associated Press that the decision not to proceed with the system on the USS Doris Miller “warrants careful reconsideration”. The company said work on the ship’s catapults and arresting gear was already halfway complete and warned that “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks.”

Supporters of EMALS point to its operational gains. The system can launch aircraft at higher speeds, uses less space on board, is easier to maintain and needs fewer sailors to run it. On the USS Ford, EMALS reduced the number of sailors needed to operate the catapults from about a dozen to two. In February, the Navy said in a press release that the USS Ford could launch and recover aircraft at a higher rate than the older Nimitz-class carriers. At the start of this year, however, the Navy still had about 20,000 unfilled posts across the fleet, making a return to a more labour-intensive system a significant shift. The rollback also comes even as China’s newest aircraft carriers use electromagnetic catapults and France has said it plans to use the system on its new carrier.

In sum, Trump has ordered the Navy to move away from EMALS on the USS Doris Miller and return to steam catapults, despite the system’s reported advantages and concerns raised by its manufacturer. The change now moves into the planning stage as Congress weighs defence funding and the Navy continues to deal with staffing and shipbuilding pressures.

With PTI Inputs

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