President Donald Trump just signed a national security memorandum forcing the U.S. Navy to rip out cutting-edge tech from its newest class of aircraft carriers.
The target is the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, better known as EMALS. Trump wants the military to abandon magnets and go back to traditional steam-powered catapults.
This isn't a sudden whim. Trump has complained about digital launch systems since his first term in 2017. Back then, after talking to a sailor during a ship inspection, he famously declared that magnets lacked the raw power of steam. Now, that personal grievance is official defense policy.
The Target and the Timeline
The directive targets the fourth ship in the Gerald R. Ford class, the future USS Doris Miller. The first three ships—the USS Gerald R. Ford, the USS John F. Kennedy, and the USS Enterprise—will keep their electromagnetic systems.
The Pentagon has two months to deliver a concrete plan for stripping out EMALS and replacing the ship's electromagnetic weapons elevators with older hydraulic and mechanical setups.
Why the Navy Chose Magnets in the First Place
Military engineers didn't pick EMALS by accident. Traditional steam catapults are massive, maintenance-heavy beasts that require complex plumbing running deep through the hull. They lose freshwater, take up immense interior space, and need a dozen or more sailors just to operate a single catapult crew.
EMALS changed the math. By using stored kinetic energy and solid-state electrical power conversion, the electromagnetic system slashed manning requirements. On the USS Ford, operating crew sizes dropped from a dozen down to two.
Proponents point out that magnets deliver smoother acceleration, handle a wider weight range of aircraft—from heavy strike fighters to lightweight drones—and allow for a higher sortie launch rate.
Navies across the globe see electromagnetic tech as the future. China's newest aircraft carriers use electromagnetic catapults. France plans to use the exact same system for its next-generation carrier.
The Cost of Reverting
The pushback from defense contractors and naval analysts is fierce. General Atomics, the manufacturer of EMALS, noted that construction and integration work on the USS Doris Miller is already roughly halfway complete. Ripping it out now introduces massive financial and schedule risks.
Critics argue the move makes little sense when the Navy faces a severe personnel shortage. Warships are already struggling to fill tens of thousands of empty berths across the fleet. Reverting to a labor-intensive steam system means tying up more sailors in mechanical upkeep just as the military tries to lean into automation.
Yet Trump remains entirely unconvinced by digital progress. As the Pentagon scrambles to draw up restructuring blueprints, the debate over how America launches jets off its flight decks is officially back to square one.
