Trump orders Pentagon to redesign US aircraft carrier to use steam catapults to launch jets

After nearly a decade of loudly complaining about the fact that modern US aircraft carriers use electromagnetic systems to launch fighter jets instead of steam-powered catapults, Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to redesign a new aircraft carrier to replace the modern system with the old-fashioned catapults he prefers. US president demands plan within 60 days for the replacement of electromagnetic launch systems. We can fix it with a hammer and a blowtorch. The memorandum directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to produce, within 60 days, a plan to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems on the USS Doris Miller, a Ford-class carrier already two years behind schedule. The Wall Street Journal first reported the order, noting Navy and industry leaders resisted it on cost and integration grounds. General Atomics, the EMALS manufacturer, whose work on the Doris Miller's catapults was nearly 50 percent complete, said changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks. Sen. Mark Kelly criticized the move, saying he wouldn't suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships.