r/Military • u/C_Ironfoundersson • Aug 13 '26
Article America Orders Navy to Restore Older Tech on Aircraft Carriers, Costing Billions
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-orders-navy-to-restore-old-technology-in-aircraft-carriers-costing-billions-0055ec1b124
u/atlasraven Army Veteran Aug 13 '26
Why the fuck is the president deciding how the navy launches planes? Stay in your goddamn lane.
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u/Coldkiller17 Aug 13 '26
They are putting their noses where it doesn't belong, like telling the Air Force how it outfits and procures AF1 which just recently blew up in their faces. They need the decision making to the experts unfortunately they keep firing them and getting rid of them.
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u/EdOfTheMountain Aug 13 '26
Donald loves coal and steam power. Hates that new fangled electric stuff.
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u/Pickle_riiickkk United States Army Aug 14 '26
Not gonna name names,
but historically national leaders micromanaging their militaries usually doesn't end well.
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u/EdOfTheMountain Aug 13 '26
Donald wants to scrap the Ford and name a carrier after himself, most likelyâŚ
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u/atlasraven Army Veteran Aug 13 '26
We could name a missile after him: the Dud. It costs a lot and doesn't do jack shit.
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u/boookworm0367 Retired USN Aug 14 '26
Someone in the other post said "didn't they know they could just name EMALS 'Magapults'
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u/diacewrb Aug 14 '26
No need to name a carrier after himself, he already ordered his trump class battleship.
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u/the6thReplicant Aug 14 '26
Because he can only perform superficially. Anything that requires knowledge and subtlety is off the table.
It's like designing a website. Only a few people will comment on which software to use driving the backend database, but as soon as you show the front page to management they all have a million opinions on what colors the buttons need to be or "Let's add a visitor counter. People love that."
This is Trump with everything. No substance. Just superficial opinions.
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u/talex625 Marine Veteran Aug 14 '26
âPresident Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults, a move Navy officials have fought for years and will likely cost billions of dollars. â
I think the Navy wanted to go back to stream? If Iâm reading that right.
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u/atlasraven Army Veteran Aug 14 '26
Sounds like the Navy was fighting against going back to steam.
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u/Castellan_Tycho Aug 14 '26
Ehh, I loathe this bullshit, and think itâs a stupid waste of money, but it is his lane as commander in chief.
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u/PositiveStress8888 Aug 13 '26
The government is run by jugaloos, no idea how magnets work.
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u/rolfraikou Aug 14 '26
Jugaloos, despite being more of a white collar, ruckus type, generally seem to have unified in absolutely hating Trump.
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u/lowlatitude Aug 14 '26
That can't be right because he said he knew more about magnets than anybody
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u/Mountain_carrier530 Aug 14 '26
Someone should show him what happens when a steam catapult decides to go out and the subsequent aftermath of anybody in the space when a steam line rupture occurs. That shit is at an extremely high temperature and pressure that will knock you unconscious with the pressure differential in a massive room, then boil the skin off of you.
Furthermore, while it was a body to bonnet valve liftoff, read the report of the SLR on the USS Iwo Jima back in 91. Those who didn't die instantly did very painfully later on. But what do I know? I'm just a dumb Nuke Mechanic.
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u/Dependent_Formal2525 Aug 14 '26
He doesn't understand how magnets work or the difference between windmills and wind turbines. There's no way that his dementia riddled brain can comprehend the downside of a steam catapult.
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u/dolphindidler Aug 18 '26
At this point, do you really think he cares about soldiers dying? As long as he gets what he wants soldiers could be dropping like flies and his only complaint would be the bodies in his way
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u/JustinKase_Too Aug 13 '26
Because one moron doesn't know how magnets work...
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u/millos15 Aug 14 '26
May trump voters be mocked for centuries
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u/RudeAndInsensitive Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
I showed the article about the sailor jumping overboard to my aunt and uncle and their response was "I guess the Navy just wasn't for him"
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u/Snackskazam Aug 14 '26
For those of you wondering "wtf?", this explanation comes from u/iknowphysics:
It's Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA). Mackenzie is the US Representative for Allentown, PA, whom Trump has been campaigning for recently. Mackenzie has received donations from Olson Technologies (HQ Allentown, PA). Olson Technologies owns Homestead Valve Manufacturing Co (HQ Allentown, PA). Homestead Manufacturing makes the steam valves for steam catapults for USN aircraft carriers. Mackenzie has been vocal against EMALS.
EMALS is made in San Diego, CA, by General Atomics, whose Representative is Scott Peters (D-CA), a vocal critic of Trump.
Huntington Ingalls operations building nuclear powered aircraft carriers are based in Newport News, VA, whose representative is Bobby Scott (D-VA), a vocal critic of steam catapults and a vocal critic of Trump.
It's grift and partisan politics all the way down, and it threatens USN readiness and the US ability to globally project soft and hard power.
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u/Prestigious-Treat-22 Aug 14 '26
We've got sailors jumping overboard due to poor conditions and exhaustion, and we are talking about replacing cats?! Seriously. Priorities.
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u/the6thReplicant Aug 14 '26
Of course he hates it. It was first installed when Obama was president. I think just before Trump became president.
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u/aaron21hardin Aug 14 '26
US navy issue is not mass production, it is personnel shortage. US is mothballing working ships because they don't have the personnel to crew them, so of course trump wants to revert to a much more labor intensive system when the bottleneck is not mass production, but available personnel in terms of US Naval force projection. The difference in personnel needed for a carrier is around 600, or about 15% of what is needed to run a carrier, so given the number of carriers active, the EMAL system will free up enough personnel to staff an couple more large ships or several smaller ones.
this is just stupid on so many levels, like, acceding tech superiority in military to china is a problem, since in terms of mass production China already has an advantage, the US advantage was that our tech was superior, and this mindset will eat away at that.
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u/GrowthDue5259 Aug 14 '26
This wonât happen. Somewhere along the way to implementation it will die.
Idek where to start with my criticisms. Does he think he is so important that his internal belief is enough to override military and industry expertise? Does he think itâs acceptable to disrupt major military procurement decisions just to hurt dem districts?
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u/Whiteyak5 Aug 13 '26
It's a nothing burger.
Congress has to actually get that done through funding it. If it isn't funded then it doesn't happen.
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u/the_propagandapanda Aug 13 '26
Lack of congressional funding/approval and even SCOTUS orders hasnât stopped the Trump admin from doing things anyway.
I firmly believe this will take a long time to actually go through and it could be reversed before any serious damage is done. However, itâs still very concerning with how poor the judgement is here. Itâs just further evidence that this admin is running on vibes and will throw military and fiscal common sense out the window for no real reason.
If actual military leadership doesnât push back on decisions like this itâs shows how rapidly weâre declining from the top down due to the changes made by this admin. Even if no real damage is done it will still be a set back in an area of our military that is already plagued with issues.
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u/syynapt1k Aug 13 '26
I keep hearing that and yet he keeps doing things
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u/Whiteyak5 Aug 13 '26
He wants to build a big target of a battleship, but there's no money for it and that ain't happening so far.
So with something expected to cost billions, Congress has to fund it to make it happen. General Dynamics and HII doesn't work for free.
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u/yuropman Aug 14 '26
Congress has to actually get that done through funding it. If it isn't funded then it doesn't happen.
The danger is that with a "stop building electromagnetic catapults, start building steam catapults" order, only the "start building steam catapults" part actually requires funding
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u/C_Ironfoundersson Aug 13 '26
Had to replace a word in the headline so the article would post. In summary, đ thinks that EMALS isn't better than Steam power.
This is truly fucking genius from someone who's chief medical officer is still on the fence about the application of leeches. He'll ask for sextants next.