Donald Trump Orders Sweeping Aircraft Carrier Redesign—What His Surprise Directive Means for the U.S. Navy

WASHINGTON—In an unexpected move that has sent shock waves through the defense community, former President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping executive order directing the Pentagon to scrap the state-of-the-art electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on future Ford-class carriers and revert to steam catapults, a technology first fielded in the 1950s. The order, issued late Thursday, gives the Navy 60 days to present a redesign plan covering catapults, arresting gear, weapons elevators and power-generation architecture. Trump called EMALS “a $13 billion science experiment” that “never should have left the drawing board,” arguing that sailors “need reliable gear, not video-game tech,” according to officials who attended the Oval Office signing ceremony. Cost, reliability and politics • Budget blow-up: The Ford-class program is already $4 billion over baseline. Navy cost analysts project that ripping out EMALS could add another $8–10 billion and push delivery schedules back at least three years. • Maintenance headaches: Although EMALS has suffered 700 launch-related failures since 2021, the Navy says reliability now meets the threshold for combat deployment. Steam catapults, by contrast, require more crew and fresh-water distilling capacity, limiting sortie rates in hot climates. • Campaign trail calculus: Trump has repeatedly mocked EMALS at rallies, telling supporters that “steam goes whoosh, electronics go boom,” a sound bite that now doubles as unofficial branding for the order. What changes on deck 1. Catapult swap: Existing EMALS troughs would be gutted and replaced with longer, heavier steam pistons. Because steam tolerances are lower, flight-deck crews will have to recalibrate launch gear for each aircraft type, reducing sortie tempo by an estimated 15 percent. 2. Power plant rethink: The Ford-class reactors were sized to power laser weapons and railguns in the 2030s. Redirecting that electrical margin back into propulsion could boost top speed by two knots, but leaves no growth room for energy weapons. 3. Elevator downgrade: The electromagnetic Advanced Weapons Elevators—another Trump target—will be redesigned with hydraulic lifts, adding 350 tons and forcing the Navy to jettison at least one F-35C from the air wing to meet weight limits. Industry winners and losers HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, the sole builder of U.S. carriers, faces the dual challenge of redesign and rework. Meanwhile, legacy steam-catapult suppliers such as Curtiss-Wright stand to receive emergency contracts worth up to $2 billion, according to a draft acquisition plan circulating on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from Virginia and Florida are already jockeying to host a fifth public shipyard focused on retrofitting older Nimitz-class hulls, another provision tucked into the executive order. Pentagon pushback Acting Navy Secretary Andrew Roxworthy warned that “trading 21st-century technology for 20th-century steam” could jeopardize air-wing readiness in the Indo-Pacific. Defense officials also say EMALS is integral to launching unmanned combat drones slated for carrier deployment in 2028; steam variants would need significant redesign to handle lighter airframes without damaging them on launch. International ripple effects China’s Type 003 carrier, Fujian, debuted its own electromagnetic catapult this year, and naval analysts believe Trump’s reversal hands Beijing a propaganda win. Australian Strategic Policy Institute fellow Dr. Mira Goh called the order “a self-inflicted downgrade that undermines allied confidence in U.S. naval innovation.” What happens next • The Navy must submit a cost-benefit analysis to the White House by Oct. 15. • Congressional defense committees will hold expedited hearings after the August recess. • Legal challenges are likely; several military-advocacy groups argue the order violates statutory test-and-evaluation thresholds embedded in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Bottom line Trump’s aircraft-carrier redesign order sets up a high-stakes clash between political priorities and engineering realities. If implemented, the shift back to steam could define America’s flattop fleet for decades—at a price tag and strategic cost still impossible to fully tally.