U.S. President Donald Trump has allowed the Navy to build ships overseas and ordered it to abandon a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead return to
U.S. President Donald Trump has allowed the Navy to build ships overseas and ordered it to abandon a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead return to using steam catapults, the White House said on Thursday.
Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the change, which would require the fourth vessel in the Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the first three vessels. The design change is expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Huntington Ingalls is the primary contractor building Ford-class aircraft carriers. Huntington's shares were up slightly in after-hours trading in New York.
As of March 2026, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship in the new class of carriers, had completed 36,863 EMALS launches, according to Pentagon documents.
The design change will occur on the Doris Miller, the fourth ship in the planned Ford class. The keel for the Doris Miller is slated to be laid by the end of 2026 with delivery anticipated by the Navy in early 2034.
Trump has frequently criticized the Navy's electromagnetic launch system as being more expensive and not as effective as
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