Retrograde Engineering: Why Trump’s Steam Catapult Order is a Bad Move for the Navy

by Winston Wendell

Now is not the time to be worrying about the technical specifications of catapults when America’s households are drowning in the rising costs of gasoline, food, and healthcare. Yet, that is exactly what former President Donald Trump seems to be doing as he wakes up from his delusionary stupor. In one of his latest nonsensical outbursts, Trump ordered the Pentagon to abandon future aircraft carrier catapults that utilize cutting-edge electromagnetic technology and revert back to the old steam-powered systems.

President Trump’s order instructs the Navy to equip future carriers with old steam catapults instead of future electromagnetic aircraft launching systems.

The president defended his decision by claiming that such a move would be better for the shipbuilding industry as it would allow them to use existing infrastructure to get contracts. However, military officials and senators have condemned the decision as ill-informed and short-sighted. Electromagnetic systems are undeniably better than their steam-powered predecessors in almost every regard.

The consensus among critics of Trump’s order is that the new electromagnetic systems are far better than the old steam ones. Therefore, canceling their development and returning to the previous technology is a huge waste of resources.

The cancellation of EMALS would lead to enormous financial losses for the Navy, contractors, and the US economy in general.

The decision to cancel the EMALS program would lead to “wasteful spending” as there was already a $500 million investment in the development of electromagnetic catapults. It’s argued that the Pentagon does not even have the necessary infrastructure to produce the older catapults.

A senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, noted that the president’s order creates “unimaginable complications.”

Senators reacted furiously to the news of the president’s intentions. Senator Kelly served in the Navy and was a pilot during the Gulf War. He accused the former president of interfering with complex military matters that he does not understand.

“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,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former Navy pilot who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.