WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump issued a directive Thursday ordering the U.S. Navy to abandon the advanced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, known as EMALS, on its newest aircraft carriers. The mandate requires the Navy to revert to older steam catapults, a system Trump has long favored.
The presidential memo instructs the Pentagon and the Navy to present plans within two months for removing EMALS. It also requires that the Ford-class carrier's electromagnetic weapons elevators be replaced.
The move will likely cost billions of dollars and shift the Navy's most advanced ships to a system that demands more sailors to operate and is harder to maintain.
Trump's opposition to the electromagnetically powered catapult system goes back years, surfacing publicly at least as early as 2017, during his first term. In an interview with Time magazine that year, he said the new system was "not good" and "doesn't have the power" of steam. "You're going to goddamned steam," he said.
The topic has appeared repeatedly in Trump's remarks at rallies and other public events since 2017.
The directive comes as the U.S. military seeks congressional funding for its equipment needs and as the Navy faces ongoing trouble recruiting enough sailors to staff its vessels.
Other naval powers are moving toward the technology Trump wants to remove. China's newest aircraft carriers use electromagnetic catapults, and France has announced plans to incorporate the system on its next carrier.
Naval officers and the defense industry have opposed such a shift, citing the cost and the technological rollback it represents.
