France Sticks to EMALS as Trump Sends US Navy Back to Steam
The order could add billions in costs and delay the USS Doris Miller, while the Navy says the electromagnetic system has saved $100 million a year.
7 Articles
7 Articles
The Upcoming Change for the Catapults of American Aircraft carriers... What About "La France Libre"?
While Donald Trump decided to intervene directly in the design of future aircraft carriers, the US president would give his preference above all to steam catapults instead of EMALS electromagnetic catapults, a technology yet used by the future French sea giant "La France Libre".
The change ordered by Trump faces the experience of steam with a key innovation to operate fighters, drones and heavy aircraft.
General Atomics Says the $1,200,000,000 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Catapult Trump Wants Scrapped on a New Ford-Class Is Already Half Built and ‘Warrants Careful Reconsideration’
General Atomics holds a $1.2 billion contract to build the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear for Ford-Class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller. Responding to the president's memo, the company said the decision not to proceed with EMALS "warrants careful reconsideration" because "with nearly 50 percent of production complete, changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks."
The US president has been declaring for years that the current technology, an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, is terrible and deserves to be changed by the previous one. Reinstalling steam catapults will cost billions of dollars.
France sticks to EMALS as Trump sends US Navy back to steam
France’s Ministry of the Armed Forces has said that US President Donald Trump’s decision to return to steam catapults on the future USS Doris Miller will not jeopardize the electromagnetic launch systems planned for France’s next aircraft carrier. “No particular technical or industrial risk has been identified,” the ministry said in a statement sent to AFP on August 15, 2026, when asked about both the manufacture of the catapults for France Libr…
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