US President Donald Trump has ordered the US Navy to remove the advanced system used to launch fighter jets from its newest type of aircraft carrier and return to using older steam catapults that he has long said he prefers.
According to a directive issued Thursday, the new mandate would likely cost billions of dollars and revert the Navy’s most advanced ships to a system that takes more sailors to operate and is more difficult to maintain.
The memo directs the Pentagon and the Navy to present Trump with plans to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, also known as EMALS, within two months. It also says the Ford-class carrier’s electromagnetic weapons elevators should be replaced.
The move follows years of Trump's criticism of the new, magnetically driven catapult technology that launches fighter planes off the carriers' decks even as some tech experts believe some of the key advantages of the system are its ability to launch aircraft at faster speeds while being easier to maintain, requiring fewer sailors to operate and using less space aboard the ship.
It also comes at a time when the Navy is having difficulty staffing its ships with enough sailors and the US military is attempting to secure financing from Congress for more equipment.
