Trump orders Pentagon to scrap modern jet launching tech on new US aircraft carrier and revert to steam catapults – as it happened

The White House has released the full text of a memorandum from Donald Trump to Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, ordering a change in the construction of a new US Navy aircraft carrier, to replace the electromagnetic aircraft launch system with steam catapults.

The supposed superiority of steam catapults for launching fighter jets has been an obsession of the president’s since 2017 when, he says, he was convinced by a single conversation with a Navy officer that the electromagnetic system installed in modern aircraft carriers was too complex.

The presidential memorandum, titled, “Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base”, claims to address “a series of shipbuilding setbacks stemming from overly complex designs” for US Navy ships.

Section 2 of the memo includes the order to change the construction of the USS Doris Miller, a Ford-class aircraft carrier known as CVN-81, which is already two years behind schedule:

double quotation markSec. 2. Restoring Steam and Hydraulic Systems to Carriers. Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War, in consultation with the Secretary of the Navy, shall provide to the President, through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), a plan on the required measures to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for the construction of CVN-81, including timelines and resourcing requirements.