The advanced catapult launch system was originally developed by the United States to boost the performance of its aircraft carriers.
But when he addressed US Navy sailors aboard the USS George Washington in Japan on Tuesday, Trump said he was serious about signing an executive order to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which he called expensive, unreliable and difficult to repair.
He said the system – designed to launch aircraft faster, more smoothly and with greater energy efficiency – had cost billions of dollars to build and fine-tune. According to Trump, when EMALS breaks down, “you have to send it up to MIT and get the most brilliant people in the world” to fix it.
In contrast, he said the 70-year-old steam catapult – which uses high-pressure steam to drive pistons that hurl aircraft off the flight deck – was more reliable and could be repaired “with a hammer and a blowtorch” while working “just as well, if not better”.
Trump also praised the dramatic effect of steam clouds billowing off aircraft carrier decks. “I love the sight of that beautiful steam pouring off that deck,” he told the sailors. “With the electric, you don’t have that … I like steam; we’re going to go back to steam.”
The footage aired on Chinese state television in September showed three types of aircraft – including the J-35 stealth fighter and the KJ-600 early warning plane – launching from and landing on the carrier’s deck.
