Trump Orders Navy to Ditch Carrier EM Launch System, Revert to Steam Catapults
By Reuters | 13 Aug, 2026

Trump signed a national security memorandum directing removal of the electromagnetic catapult system used on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers at a cost of billions of dollars.

U.S. Navy's USS Gerald R. Ford conducts flight operations in support of Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran, from an unidentified location, released March 9, 2026, in this still image taken from a handout video. DVIDS/Handout via REUTERS

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Navy to abandon a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults, the White House said on Thursday.

Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the change which would require the removal of the electromagnetic catapult system used on Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers and is expected to cost billions of dollars. Huntington Ingalls is the primary contractor building Ford class aircraft carriers.

Trump has frequently criticized the Navy's electromagnetic launch system as being more expensive and not as effective as steam catapults.

"Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults and they're not good. They're not nearly as good, too complex," Trump said at a defense summit in Pennsylvania last month.

(Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City; Editing by Franklin Paul)