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The steam catapults on the USS George Washington aircraft carrier have now reached their 200,000th launch and recovery milestone after 34 years of service. Meanwhile, as of March 2026, the EMALS catapults on the USS Gerald R. Ford have completed 36,863 launches, not counting the recoveries. The Ford has now been in service for just over nine years. Of these, about a third (12,200 launches) were conducted on Ford’s last record-breaking 326-day 2025–26 deployment.
But Ford’s EMALS are now back in the spotlight, with the White House remaining unconvinced they are better than steam catapults. Trump has issued a national security presidential memorandum instructing the Pentagon to assess reverting future Ford-class carriers (starting with the fourth ship of the class) to be built with previous-generation steam catapults. The issue has been simmering since Trump’s first term, but picked up in August 2026 and is currently unfolding. This article reflects the situation as of the time of writing (August 31).
USS George Washington Reaches 200,000 Milestone
In August 2026, the US Navy reported that the Nimitz-class USS George Washington (CVN 73) had achieved the major milestone of operating some 200,000 fixed-wing recovery operations. These had been accumulated over its 34 years of service, and the milestone was achieved while underway in the Indian Ocean. The carrier has been supporting CENTCOM operations against Iran.
The US military reported, “Lt. Steven Frazier, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 147, received the honor of this historic feat by landing in an F-35C Lightning II after flying routine operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operation.” The news release explains that every aircraft recovery, or ‘trap,’ consists of a fixed-wing aircraft landing on the ship by catching a thick, steel arresting gear cable with its tail hook.
The USS George Washington is able to recover one aircraft on its deck per minute and typically lands 70 aircraft throughout a day’s operations. Over its career, the George Washington has recovered F-14 Tomcats, F/A-18 legacy Hornets, F/A-18 Super Hornets, F-35C Lightning IIs, EA-18G Growlers, and Hawkeye radar aircraft. It is unclear if she will continue to serve long enough to one day operate the Navy’s future F/A-XX fighter jets.
Why EMALS Is Replacing Steam Catapults
The Nimitz-class carriers are equipped with older steam catapults for aircraft operations, while the new next-generation Ford-class carriers are equipped with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). General Atomics developed EMALS for the carrier’s CATOBAR supercarriers and offers a large number of improvements over the older system.
It is able to accelerate aircraft more smoothly and gradually, putting less impulsive stress on their airframes. One of the reasons why US Navy aircraft are rarely sold off second-hand is that the airframes are often worn out after years of strenuous carrier operations. EMALS is also lighter and eliminates the need to install bulky boiler, compressor, pressure vessel, plumbing, and piston maintenance systems. Operators can also tailor the power output for the specific aircraft being launched or recovered.
Partly thanks to EMALS, but also due to other improvements, Ford-class carriers are designed to launch 25% more sorties than the older Nimitz-class design. In August 2026, USNI News reported, “USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) outperformed legacy Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in a test of the launch and recovery systems of the carrier, the Navy’s top officer said last week.” The implied sortie generation was around 120 launches and recoveries (240 surge) for the Nimitz class and around 160 sorties (312 surge) for the Ford-class.
The EMALS Elephant In The Room
As with many complicated new designs, the Ford class has been plagued with development issues, including EMALS. Ironically, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the most modern and capable carrier in the fleet, but will be the last carrier to routinely operate the F-35C fighter jet. The issue was that the carrier’s design was frozen before final integration requirements, testing, and certification were complete—by the time the aircraft’s specifics were known. Ford will be the last to be rotated through the midlife refit to operate them.
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But another major issue for Ford is that it took more than a decade for EMALS to reach acceptable reliability on the carrier. The underlying issues were fundamentally engineering and integration rather than a failure of the underlying concept. Perhaps the biggest mistake was concurrency, where the carrier was built while the technology was still maturing. It was one of the major factors that delayed the USS Ford.
But by 2026, the wrinkles are being worked through as the technology matures, and the Navy is reporting sortie generation rates exceeding those demonstrated by the Nimitz-class carriers. But at least in the eyes of Trump, the damage has been done. President Trump has remained publicly skeptical of several Ford-class design choices, directing the Navy to examine a return to steam catapults and criticizing the class’s island configuration in favor of more traditional layouts.
The Order To Revert To Steam Catapults
Even as EMALS appears to be maturing, it appears Trump’s patience has run out, and he is making good on threats to order the Navy to revert to steam catapults in his first term. In August 2026, Reuters reported that Trump was ordering the Navy to provide a plan to revert to steam catapults. Trump has previously said that EMALS were too complex, expensive, and that they aren’t worth it.
Reuters wrote that the executive order “would require the fourth vessel in the Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the first three vessels. The design change is expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.” The Navy hasn’t purchased a steam catapult in a generation, and it would force it to restart an entire supply chain ecosystem.
Steam vs EMALS (per General Atomics) | C-13/C-13-1 steam catapult (late Nimitz-class) | EMALS on Gerald R. Ford |
|---|---|---|
Basic principle | High-pressure steam driving a piston through a long cylinder | Stored electrical energy driving a linear induction motor |
Acceleration | Mechanical/stream-driven | Computer-controlled electromagnetic acceleration |
Launch stroke (approx.) | 300 feet (91 meters) | 300 feet (91 meters) |
Max launch energy | Approx. 95-100 MJ | 122 MJ |
Aircraft stress | Higher | Lower |
Acceleration profile | Relatively abrupt | Smoother |
The Ford (CVN 78), which is in active service, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), and the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), which is currently under construction, would retain EMALS. The change would affect the USS Doris Miller (CVN-81), which is expected to be laid down in 2026. Ironically, it could mean that by the time the Navy reverts to steam catapults, EMALS could have fully matured.
China And France Press Ahead With EMALS
Another level of irony is that it could represent China gaining a technological edge in this particular aspect of carrier operations. Currently, three countries are using, or are planning to use, EMALS. The current French Charles de Gaulle carrier uses two US-built steam catapults, but France’s next-generation carrier replacement is to use General Atomics EMALS. The carrier is expected to enter service in 2038.
Meanwhile, China’s new Type 003 Fujian has become the world’s first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to be equipped with EMALS. Alongside Ford, it is one of only two carriers in the world to use the system. Fujian is a technological leap over the older Liaoning and Shandong carriers and allows China to operate aircraft like the KJ-600 airborne early warning aircraft.
While China has released carefully choreographed footage showing its EMALS working and launching J-15T, J-35, and KJ-600 aircraft, the PLA Navy does not publish reliability metrics that could allow a meaningful comparison of how successful they have been with integrating it. The next carrier, the nuclear Type 004, is currently under construction. From satellite images, it is likely to be larger than the Ford-class carriers.
EMALS & Renaming Dorris Miller
It remains unclear if the Navy really will abandon EMALS. The national security presidential memorandum directs the Pentagon to produce, within 60 days, a plan to replace EMALS with steam catapults on the CVN-81. But many analysts consider Doris Miller to be already too far into its design and production. General Atomics says that almost 50% of the EMALS production for Doris Miller is already complete. Changing the design now would likely greatly increase the cost of the carrier and significantly delay it.
It is unclear how long it would take to produce a new steam catapult. Analysts expect the Navy to resist a full switch; it’s possible the service may try to buy time until his term finishes. But there is another aspect to the Dorris Miller. The future US Navy battleship, the Trump-class, has been named after Trump, while the US Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet has been designated the F-47, after Trump being the 47th President.
In August 2026, CNN reported that the US Navy is working to rename the Dorris Miller after Donald Trump. The Navy has reportedly stopped referring to it as the Doris Miller and is now just using its hull number CVN-81. CNN writes, “It’s unclear what the Navy is seeking to change the name of the carrier to, though two of the sources said there have been internal conversations about renaming it to honor Trump.” A connection between the naming decision and negotiations related to the EMALS dispute therefore cannot be ruled out. At this stage, such connections are speculative.
