Overview
- The White House memorandum signed Thursday requires the Defense Department and Navy to deliver, within 60 days, a plan to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and advanced weapons elevators from future Ford‑class carriers.
- The directive names the fourth Ford‑class ship, the USS Doris Miller, as the first vessel to be redesigned for steam catapults and hydraulic elevators rather than EMALS.
- General Atomics and defense analysts warned that work on the Doris Miller is nearly half complete and that changing systems now would introduce substantial cost, schedule and integration risks.
- EMALS has logged tens of thousands of launches and the Navy says it raises sortie rates while cutting maintenance and crew needs, while steam catapults would require replumbing, more personnel and restarting a U.S. steam‑catapult industrial base that no longer exists.
- The White House frames the move as reviving parts of the maritime industrial base but reporting and experts say the change could add billions to program costs, push delivery into the late 2030s, strain public shipyards and reduce carrier availability during the transition.