Trump orders Navy to replace EMALS with steam catapults and pays billions to cancel offshore wind

President Trump has instructed the Navy to draft a plan that replaces the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) on future Ford-class carriers with traditional steam catapults, undoing years of development and the successful deployment of EMALS on the USS Gerald R. Ford. General Atomics reports that about half of the EMALS hardware for the next carrier is already built, meaning the reversal would discard existing components, redesign the vessel, and revive a supply chain the Navy had intended to retire, adding further expense and schedule slips.

Concurrently, the administration is allocating almost $4 billion in taxpayer money to compensate energy firms, including a $1.22 billion payment to RWE, for surrendering offshore-wind leases and abandoning projects that had received prior public and private funding. The piece contends that both initiatives squander prior investments, weaken the United States’ strategic edge, and conflict with the administration’s rhetoric on fiscal responsibility.

It also notes that while new administrations can adjust subsidies, doing so after a technology has proven viable requires a clear, evidence-based justification, which the article says is absent. Overall, the author warns that reversing progress in defense and clean energy could erode long-term competitiveness and resilience.