00:04A major shakeup is underway inside the U.S. Navy, and it comes as America faces growing
00:10pressure to sustain military operations amid the war with Iran. President Donald Trump has
00:16ordered sweeping changes to how the Navy builds and equips its warships. In a national security
00:23memorandum, Trump has authorized limited construction of U.S. Navy ships overseas
00:28and directed the Navy to abandon the electromagnetic aircraft launch system on a future aircraft
00:34carrier. Instead, the administration wants to bring back a technology the Navy has used for decades,
00:41the steam catapult. The decision affects the Doris Miller, the fourth ship in the Gerald R. Ford
00:48class of aircraft carriers, and the timing is significant. With American weapons and military
00:54resources under growing pressure from months of high-intensity operations, the Trump administration
01:00is looking for ways to accelerate naval capacity. Trump has repeatedly attacked the electromagnetic
01:07launch system, known as EMELS. He argues that the technology is too expensive, too complicated,
01:14and less reliable than traditional steam catapults. Speaking at a defense summit last month,
01:20Trump criticized the billions of dollars spent developing the electromagnetic system.
01:26The USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship of the class, had completed more than 36,000 EMELS launches by
01:34March 2026, according to Pentagon documents. The system has experienced problems since its introduction,
01:41but it has also accumulated thousands of successful launches. Now, the fourth carrier is set to take a
01:48different path. The change will come on the Doris Miller, whose keel is expected to be laid by the
01:54end of this year. Delivery to the Navy is currently anticipated in 2034, but switching technologies at this
02:01stage could come at a steep price. The carrier program is already deep into development, and General
02:08Atomics, the company that produces EMELS, is warning that changing course now could create major cost,
02:15schedule, and integration risks. The company says nearly half of production is already
02:21complete. That means the Navy could be forced to redesign parts of a carrier that was already moving through the
02:28production process, and taxpayers could ultimately pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the reversal.
02:34So the question is simple. Is Trump making the Navy more efficient or creating another expensive
02:41disruption? But the electromagnetic catapult controversy is only one part of Trump's new
02:47naval strategy. The White House is also opening the door to something that has been largely off-limits for
02:54decades. Foreign shipyards could soon build ships for the U.S. Navy. Under the new memorandum, foreign
03:01industrial capacity could be used to supplement American production. But there are obvious concerns.
03:08How will sensitive military technology be protected? How will quality control work across borders? And
03:15could relying on overseas production create new vulnerabilities during a future crisis?
03:21Trump's memorandum also calls for another major expansion of America's naval infrastructure.
03:27The defense secretary has been instructed to establish a fifth Navy shipyard. Its mission would
03:33be to increase the country's capacity to repair submarines and aircraft carriers. That is particularly
03:39important because the U.S. Navy is dealing with growing maintenance demands while simultaneously facing
03:46pressure to expand the fleet. The Iran war has only intensified the problem. Ships, aircraft, missiles,
03:53and other military systems are being used at a high operational tempo. And every additional deployment
04:00puts more pressure on maintenance schedules, crews, and industrial capacity. The administration now wants
04:07more ships, faster repairs, and greater production capacity. But whether those changes can happen quickly
04:13enough remains a major question.
04:32Subscribe to OneIndia and never miss an update. Download the OneIndia app now.
Comments