The US Navy’s next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy, has finished its initial set of sea trials, marking an important milestone ahead of its scheduled delivery to the US Navy in March 2027.
Last week, the aircraft carrier (CVN 79) rolled out of Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) to start the manufacturer’s sea trials. It returned to the port on February 4 after successfully concluding the first phase of the sea trials.
However, despite President Donald Trump’s threats to sign an executive order mandating that the US Navy adopt steam catapults over EMALS and hydraulic lifts over the Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE), the USS Kennedy is equipped with both.
“The sea trials brought together NNS shipbuilders, John F. Kennedy sailors, and Navy personnel to execute the testing and demonstrate ship operations,” Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) said in a statement.
“This huge milestone is the result of the selfless teamwork and unwavering commitment by our incredible shipbuilders, suppliers, and ship’s force crew,” HII added.
The USS Kennedy was laid down at the HII facility in Newport News, birthplace of all U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers, in 2015.
Now, after 11 long years, the aircraft carrier has finished its manufacturer’s sea trials.
Notably, Kennedy took three more years to begin its sea trials than USS Gerald R. Ford, which was laid down in 2009 and began its sea trials in 2017.
This is surprising as generally the second-in-class carrier is expected to have a faster delivery timeline than its progenitor.
The delay was due to two main factors: the breakdown of supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Congressional mandate to deliver the ship with the capability to operate the US Navy’s stealth fighter jet, the F-35C Lightning II.
While four Nimitz-class carriers have been equipped to operate F-35Cs, including USS Carl Vinson, USS Abraham Lincoln, USS George Washington, and USS Theodore Roosevelt, the first Ford-class carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is still not equipped to operate F-35Cs.
This was because USS Gerald R. Ford was delivered in 2017, while the US Navy’s carrier-capable F-35C Lightning II received operational clearance in 2019.
Besides, the USS Kennedy also incorporates many other design changes from its predecessor, USS Gerald R. Ford.
For instance, while the USS Gerald R. Ford features the unique AN/SPY-3 Multi-Function Radar (MFR) and AN/SPY-4 Volume Search Radar (VSR) combo, the USS Kennedy will feature the AN/SPY-6(V) radars.
However, USS Kennedy will carry forward some key design features of USS Gerald R. Ford, such as the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults, Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), and the Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) weapons-handling systems.
This, despite the fact that not only have all three of these systems had teething issues, been plagued by maintenance problems, and suffered from low reliability, but they have also been criticised by President Donald Trump for their high construction and maintenance costs and low availability rates.
Trump’s Many Complaints Against EMALS Tech
Speaking on the Nimitz-class carrier USS George Washington in October last year, Trump said, “I’m putting out an order, I’m going to sign an executive order, when we build aircraft carriers, it’s steam for the catapults, and it’s hydraulic for the elevators. Do you agree? Everybody agrees.”
Criticising the EMALS, the President said that the technology is expensive, unreliable, and difficult to repair.
“They’re spending billions of dollars to build stupid electric. And the problem, when it breaks, you have to send up to MIT, get the most brilliant people in the world, fly them out. The steam, they said they can fix it with a hammer and blowtorch. And it works just as well, if not better.”
Making a case for steam catapults, the President said that they worked very well for the U.S. Navy for nearly half a century.
“They had steam, which worked so beautifully, and it has for 50 years, right? So we’re gonna go back. Seriously, fellas, I want to make that change. I’m gonna do an executive order,” he added.
“I’m not going to let them continue to do this thing. They’re trying to make it work, they’re trying so hard, and they have something that’s perfect. So we’re going to go back on that and the magnets.”
Notably, this was not the first time that Trump has rallied against EMALS. He had criticised it during his first term as well.
In 2017, Trump called the Electromagnetic Catapults “no good.”
Furthermore, during a 2019 Navy visit to Japan, he called the system “crazy electric” and “very, very complex.” He indicated that he would order the Navy to abandon those features, but never followed through.
Steam vs Electromagnetic Catapults
Currently, only two carriers in the world feature EMALS technology: the USS Gerald R. Ford and the Chinese Fujian (yet to be commissioned).
Ten out of the 11 active US carriers feature steam catapults. All 10 of the older Nimitz-class carriers use steam-powered catapults.
Meanwhile, China’s two active aircraft carriers – Liaoning (Type 001) and Shandong (Type 002) – both feature Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) operations.
Catapults are critical to aircraft carrier operations because they allow heavier aircraft, including strike jets, refuellers, AWACS, and AEW&C, to take off from short flight decks.
The purpose of the EMALS was to launch aircraft more efficiently and with less stress on both the equipment and the airframes.
The US began developing EMALS technology in the first decade of the 21st century, after using steam catapults on its Nimitz-class carriers for nearly half a century. In contrast, China skipped the steam catapult generation entirely and jumped directly from STOBAR operations to EMALS. China adopted EMALS technology on its latest carrier, Fujian.
Compared to steam catapults, electromagnetic launch systems offer finer control, better efficiency, and adjustable launch power.
However, they are expensive to build and maintain, require massive power, and suffer from reliability issues.
In this sense, there is some truth to Trump’s criticism of EMALS.
A 2019 Pentagon report highlights how the troublesome electromagnetic catapults and new arresting gear on the USS Gerald R. Ford performed terribly during at-sea trials over the past two years.
According to a 2018 Bloomberg report, citing the annual review of the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), EMALS suffered 10 “critical failures” across 747 aircraft launches during at-sea trials since USS Gerald R Ford’s delivery in 2017.
The Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) had 10 “operational mission failures” out of 763 landing attempts during the same time frame, it said.
This, even though at US$13 billion, the USS Gerald R. Ford is the world’s most expensive aircraft carrier.
According to the Bloomberg report, the EMALS was experiencing a critical failure once every 455 launches, which was 9 times the Navy’s desired rate.
Similarly, the carrier’s 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators, or AWEs, which help move ordnance and other aircraft stores to and from the main flight deck to the ship’s magazines, also suffered repeated failures.
Similarly, a DOT&E report published in 2025 lamented that, despite software and hardware upgrades, the USS Gerald R. Ford’s reliability statistics have not improved substantially.
“Despite engineering upgrades to hardware and software, reliability has not appreciably changed from prior years, and reliance on off-ship technical support remains a challenge,” the DOT&E report said.
“As part of an effort to provide short- and long-term improvements to address EMALS reliability degraders, NAVAIR delivered a software update and upgraded all catapult position sensor blocks prior to CVN 78’s deployment, and is continuing development on further
improvements,” it added.
Similarly, the DOT&E report highlights reliability issues with the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.
“Despite some software and hardware improvements in AAG, reliability has not appreciably changed because the FY23 data reflects many short-duration failures that were unreported in the developmental test, as well as system-of-systems degradations, all of which would have prevented landing.”
“NAVAIR continues to work on short and long-term improvements to address AAG reliability degraders. However, difficulties such as obtaining replacement parts and the reliance on off-ship technical support remain a challenge,” it added.
In theory, the EMALS and AAG were supposed to improve the USS Gerald R. Ford’s sortie rate; however, due to persistent issues and repeated breakdowns, the carrier’s sortie rate is lower than that of the 50-year-old steam catapult launch system.
However, the question is: why, despite his opposition to EMALS, has Trump not yet signed an executive order banning it, and why are the new Ford-class carriers still featuring EMALS technology?
Why the US Navy Will Not Revert to Steam Catapults
Changing the EMALS to a steam catapult in the upcoming Ford-class carriers would be neither easy, nor cheap, nor desirable. Catapults and AAGs are integral to carriers and cannot be easily changed without a fundamental redesign of the carrier.
First, the Ford-class carriers are designed and built around an all-electric architecture, not a steam one.
Nimitz-class carriers produce large amounts of high-pressure steam from their reactors specifically to feed the catapults, in addition to propulsion and other systems. On the other hand, Ford-class carriers use advanced nuclear reactors (A1B) optimized for electrical power generation. These reactors do not produce or supply steam to major auxiliary systems, such as catapults.
Installing steam catapults would require completely redesigning and rebuilding the reactor plant to generate and pipe thousands of pounds per minute of high-pressure steam.
This would also require installing extensive steam piping, valves, pumps, boilers/heat exchangers, and desalination capacity throughout the ship.
This is impossible without redesigning the hull and other major sections of the carrier, which will cost billions of dollars and further delay delivery.
Experts have warned that redesigning the Ford-class carriers around steam catapults will be far more expensive and time-consuming than improving the existing EMALS.
Furthermore, EMALS offers many advantages. Steam catapults put more strain on equipment and airframes.
EMALS provide launch flexibility. It can provide varied power to launch aircraft of different weights and at different speeds. EMALS also offer better sortie rate. Steam catapults can launch around 140 aircraft daily, whereas EMALS can launch over 250 aircraft daily.
Carriers with steam catapults are generally very hot, humid, and steamy, whereas EMALS provides a much quieter, cooler environment.
Additionally, while EMALS are expensive to build, their life-cycle costs could be lower than those of steam catapults.
Also, it must be noted that EMALS, like any new technology, has a maturation period. In recent years, the reliability rate of USS Gerald R. Ford has improved significantly.
Abandoning it now will waste decades of work and billions of dollars invested in developing this revolutionary technology.
Notwithstanding Trump’s threats, these factors make it highly unlikely that the US Navy will revert to steam catapults.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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