“I will sign a new directive requiring the use of steam catapults and hydraulic elevators when we build new aircraft carriers. Those systems never have problems,” Trump said on October 28 aboard the USS George Washington, docked at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan.
Trump said the U.S. Navy should return to steam-powered catapults, emphasizing that the system has worked “extremely well for over 50 years.”
“They’re spending billions of dollars developing these ridiculous electric systems,” he added. “The problem is, when they break down, you have to go to MIT and bring in the smartest people to fix them. Meanwhile, with the steam catapults, you just need a hammer and a blowtorch—they work great, even better than the new stuff.”
It remains unclear what Trump’s proposed directive would specifically require the Navy to do. This is not the first time he has criticized the EMALS and electromagnetic elevators fitted on the Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. In 2017, Trump also vowed to order the Navy to remove the systems, though no such order was ever issued.
The EMALS and advanced weapons elevators on the Ford-class carriers have experienced numerous technical issues in recent years. The Navy has made efforts to address these problems but has yet to fully resolve them.
According to the Pentagon’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation, the EMALS, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and elevators “have not yet achieved their full potential,” even as the Ford continues to conduct regular operations and support combat readiness.
These systems were originally expected to increase aircraft sortie rates by using advanced software control, allowing for faster launch and recovery cycles. However, both EMALS and AAG have faced persistent software and reliability issues.
“Replacing EMALS, electromagnetic elevators, and potentially even AAG on the Ford or its sister ships would be an extremely complex, costly, and time-consuming process,” said Joseph Trevithick, editor at The War Zone, a U.S. defense analysis publication.
Catapults and elevators are deeply integrated into the core structure of an aircraft carrier. Redesigning Ford-class carriers to accommodate steam and hydraulic systems would be technically challenging and economically impractical.
“Another option might be a hybrid approach that combines the advantages of both steam and electromagnetic launch systems,” Trevithick noted. “But that would force the ship to carry two entirely different systems, each requiring its own maintenance and operational procedures.”