You've probably heard the saying that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, the United States Navy tried to fix the traditional steam catapult anyway, and the fallout has officially reached the highest levels of power. President Donald Trump just signed a national security memorandum ordering a hard pivot back to 1950s-era steam catapults and hydraulic systems for future Ford-class aircraft carriers, starting with the upcoming USS Doris Miller.
If you look past the standard political headlines, this decision touches on a massive engineering debate that has divided defense experts for a decade. Why would the world's most advanced military throw out high-tech gear for analog machinery? The answer comes down to a messy mixture of sky-high costs, relentless reliability headaches, and a philosophy that simple often beats fragile.
The Promise and Pain of EMALS
Back when the Navy designed the USS Gerald R. Ford, the goal was total electrical modernization. Traditional carriers relied heavily on massive steam plumbing routed from nuclear reactors throughout the ship. That steam operated everything from propulsion support to the massive catapults flinging fighter jets off the deck.
Enter the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, built by General Atomics. Instead of pressure, EMALS uses stored kinetic energy and solid-state electrical pulses to hurl aircraft down the track.
The theoretical perks were huge:
- Smoother, computer-controlled acceleration that reduces stress on airframes.
- The ability to launch everything from heavy strike fighters to lightweight unmanned drones with simple software adjustments.
- A smaller internal footprint that freed up precious ship space.
The theory didn't quite survive contact with reality. Pentagon testing data from offices like the DOT&E consistently showed that EMALS experienced failure rates far higher than planned during its early operational history. Maintenance crews found themselves wrestling with complex software loops and specialized electrical components instead of turning wrenches on familiar mechanics.
The Human Element and the Hammer Story
Trump's aversion to the system didn't just appear overnight. Ever since his first term in 2017, he has publicly criticized the electric launcher, famously recounting a conversation with a veteran flight-deck catapult operator who joked that fixing traditional steam systems required basic tools, whereas the electronic setup required calling technical geniuses from major institutes.
While critics love to mock that anecdote, it hits on a very real operational pain point for sailors deployed at sea for months at a time. Modern warships face severe staffing crunches and retention struggles. When high-tech components fail in the middle of an ocean, reliance on off-ship technical support creates critical bottlenecks. Steam, for all its antiquated bulk, is well understood by generations of naval engineers.
The Cost of Changing Horses Midstream
Not everyone is cheering for the change. Defense analysts and industry stakeholders have pushed back hard against the new directive. General Atomics noted that shifting away from EMALS on the USS Doris Miller—whose construction is already roughly halfway complete—introduces massive integration, schedule, and financial risks.
Redesigning an entire nuclear-powered warship to strip out heavy electrical trunks and pipe high-pressure steam back through the engineering and flight decks is no small task. It requires tearing up finalized blueprints, altering internal berthing spaces, and spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars just to reverse-engineer a system the Navy stopped buying two decades ago.
There is also a broader strategic irony at play. While the U.S. looks backward toward steam, foreign rivals like China are actively outfitting their newest aircraft carriers with indigenous electromagnetic launch systems. France has also committed to using EMALS for its next-generation carrier program. By stepping off the electric path, the U.S. risks creating a unique divergence in its fleet architecture.
The Pentagon has just two months to deliver a comprehensive implementation plan to execute the president's order. How the Navy handles this engineering U-turn will shape the backbone of American naval power for the next fifty years.
Trump directs Navy to return to steam catapults on aircraft carriers
This video provides an overview of the directive requiring the U.S. Navy to transition Ford-class carriers back to steam-powered systems.
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