Trump's US Navy overhaul: foreign ship builds, steam catapult return

"Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults and they're not good. They're not nearly as good, too complex," Trump said at a defence summit in Pennsylvania last month.

When the navy selected EMALS in 2009, it said it would lower overall lifecycle costs, require less maintenance than steam catapults and generate less physical stress on carrier-based aircraft. The system, also selected by France's navy, had initial troubles but has since completed thousands of launches.

General Atomics, the maker of EMALS, said in a statement that the decision not to proceed with the system on the Doris Miller warranted "careful reconsideration."