Donald Trump just ordered a major change to a US aircraft carrier that’s already under construction. The president signed a directive that could force the Pentagon to rip out a key modern system and replace it with older technology.
The USS Doris Miller could switch from EMALS to steam catapults despite construction already being underway
The USS Doris Miller may undergo a major design overhaul, according to The Guardian. President Donald Trump signed a national security memorandum on Thursday directing the Pentagon to replace the aircraft carrier’s Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) with steam catapults. The memorandum gives Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao 60 days to develop a plan for the transition.
The Ford-class aircraft carrier is already two years behind its construction schedule. General Atomics, the company building the EMALS system, stated that work on the new ship is nearly 50% complete. The company warned that “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks.”
Trump has publicly advocated for steam catapults over electromagnetic systems since 2017. He first shared his preference in an interview with Time magazine that year. “It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital?” Trump said at the time.
The president has consistently retold a conversation he claims to have had with a navy catapult operator. At the Army War College last month, Trump recounted the exchange again. “He said: ‘Steam is better, sir. We can fix it with a hammer and a blowtorch,'” Trump recalled the operator telling him.
Senior US Navy and industry leaders have resisted the proposed change due to enormous costs. Tearing out the electromagnetic system would disrupt a design integral to the Ford-class carriers. General Atomics urged that Trump’s decision “warrants careful reconsideration.”
Senator Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and test pilot, responded sharply to the order. “I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times,” Kelly wrote on social media. “Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best – ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bull****.”
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.
