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

Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and a former astronaut, was more blunt in his reaction to the news. 

“I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships,” Kelly wrote on social media. “Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best – ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bullshit.”…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/trump-aircraft-carriers-steam-catapults

 

Trump demands threaten Navy's progress - POLITICO

Just as the Lincoln concerns reached fever pitch, Trump released an order directing new Ford-class aircraft carriers to go back to using steam propulsion systems to launch and recover aircraft, an older technology that has been replaced by electromagnetic systems. 

The modifications demanded by Trump “is highly unusual and disruptive for the Navy — especially since these are changes the Navy did not request,” said Todd Harrison, an Air Force veteran and longtime defense budget analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 

General Atomics, the company that makes electronic catapults, said in a statement that work on the catapults was halfway complete and that changing course now “would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks.”…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/14/trump-navy-lincoln-concerns-01038360