President has suggested steam catapults every year since 2017, saying digital systems are too ‘complicated’

Trump has suggested steam catapults every year since 2017, saying digital systems are too ‘complicated’

After nearly a decade of loudly complaining about the fact that modern US aircraft carriers use electromagnetic systems to launch fighter jets instead of steam-powered catapults, Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to redesign a new aircraft carrier to replace the modern system with the old-fashioned catapults he prefers.

Trump signed a national security memorandum on Thursday directing the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, to make the change he has had his heart set on since at least 2017, when he first described his idea to Time magazine.

The memorandum gives the Pentagon leaders 60 days to come up with “a plan on the required measures to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for the construction of” the USS Doris Miller, a Ford-class aircraft carrier, which is already two years behind schedule.

  • antianarchist@sopuli.xyz
    17·
    11 days ago

    Uhm. I don’t have to be an engineer to understand basic physics, which is that you never can convert energy without loss.

    All I am saying is, that it is less efficient to convert the energy, when you can use the steam directly.

    • SalmonTractor@discuss.tchncs.de
      51·
      11 days ago

      Probably a good idea to learn about topics before guessing, really.

      Compared to steam catapults, the EMALS also weighs less, is expected to cost less and require less maintenance, and can launch both heavier and lighter aircraft than a steam piston-driven system. It also reduces the carrier’s requirement of fresh water, thus reducing the demand for energy-intensive desalination.

      …

      The steam system is massive, inefficient (4–6% useful work), and hard to control

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_Aircraft_Launch_System

    • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
      2·
      11 days ago

      Is the steam anywhere close to the launch location though? No idea how this shit works but I assume that would need all kinds of piping and valves and in the end it’ll probably less efficient than converting to electricity and using that