Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) on Thursday tore into President Donald Trump for reportedly signing a memorandum directing the Navy to switch fighter jet launch systems aboard aircraft carriers, a move that is likely to come with a hefty paycheck.
Kelly made the comments in response to reporting by the Wall Street Journal that Trump is ordering the Navy change from electromagnetic catapult systems for fighter jets to steam catapults. Kelly, a Navy veteran, said the president shouldn’t advise outside areas of his expertise.
“I’ve launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times, have a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering, and am a test pilot and even I wouldn’t suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships,” Kelly said. “Donald Trump should stick to what he knows best — ballrooms, bankruptcy, and bulls***.”
On Thursday, Trump signed a memorandum titled “Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base,” which directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to provide the president with a plan to switch out the newer, more complex launch systems with steam and hydraulic systems and weapons elevators.
Trump has a long history of being critical of the electromagnetic systems, often calling them “too complex.” The systems are in place on Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, which include the Ford, John F. Kennedy, and Enterprise vessels.
“Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults and they’re not good. They’re not nearly as good, too complex,” the president said at a defense conference in Pennsylvania in July.
Trump used similar language in his recent memorandum, which fulfills a promise the president made nearly 10 years ago in which he promised to revert to steam systems.
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“The United States Navy has experienced a series of shipbuilding setbacks stemming from overly complex designs and iterative design change procedures, which have resulted in cost growth, delays, and cancellations,” the directive said in its opening.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s directive could cost billions of dollars and will require the next ship in the Ford class, named the Doris Miller, to be built with steam catapults and weapons elevators. All other ships added to the class will also use steam systems under the president’s directive.