President Donald Trump has directed the US Navy to strip its most advanced aircraft carriers of their electromagnetic launch system and revert to older steam catapults, a move expected to cost billions of dollars and require years to implement.
A presidential memorandum issued Thursday orders the Pentagon and the Navy to submit, within 60 days, a plan to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, known as EMALS, from Ford-class carriers. The directive also calls for the ships’ electromagnetic weapons elevators to be replaced.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been tasked with outlining what would be required to install hydraulic catapults on the next vessel in the class, the planned USS Doris Miller, which is set to become the fourth of six ships in the line.
The order caps years of criticism from Trump, who has repeatedly disparaged the magnetically powered system that shoots fighter jets off carrier decks. His objections date back to at least 2017, when he told Time magazine that the technology was “not good” and “doesn’t have the power” of the older steam design.
“You’re going to goddamned steam,” Trump said at the time, a refrain he has revived at rallies and public events since.
The reversal runs counter to guidance from many naval officers, who have argued that steam catapults require more sailors to operate and are more difficult to maintain than the newer system. It arrives as the Navy struggles to recruit enough personnel to crew its ships and as the US military competes for limited congressional funding across its equipment priorities.
EMALS was developed to launch aircraft more smoothly and with greater precision than the steam mechanisms it replaced, and to accommodate a wider range of aircraft weights, including lighter unmanned systems. Early operational years brought reliability concerns, which critics of the technology have cited.
The directive positions the United States against a broader international trend. China’s newest carrier, the Fujian, employs electromagnetic catapults, and France has said it plans to use the same technology on its next-generation carrier.
The decision unfolds against a backdrop of heightened US naval activity abroad, including operations that recently saw the deployment of American warships to the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the strategic weight placed on carrier readiness.
The full cost and timeline of the conversion remain unclear, and analysts note that retrofitting ships already built around EMALS could prove technically complex. The Navy’s forthcoming plans, due within two months, are expected to clarify the scope of the undertaking and whether Congress will be asked to fund it.