Steam catapults? US Navy appears to be sticking with electromagnetics on carriers

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s nostalgia for old-fashioned steam catapults, the U.S. Navy appears to be sticking with electromagnetics for its newest class of aircraft carriers.

The Navy recently awarded contracts for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System , or EMALS, which uses electrically generated magnetic fields to launch aircraft from Ford-class carriers.

Kato Engineering announced a $49.3 million contract this week to support the energy storage subsystem of EMALS. The Navy also published a sources sought notice on Wednesday, seeking vendors to supply components such as EMALS recirculation pumps .

The Navy maintains that electromagnetic catapults provide smoother acceleration, can be adjusted to launch various types of aircraft such as drones, can be reset for faster launches and require less maintenance and personnel. China, meanwhile, is equipping its new Fujian-class carriers with electromagnetic catapults.

Trump resurrected the steam catapult versus EMALS conversation in August, when he ordered the Navy to replace EMALS with the older system on the USS Doris Miller, the next Ford-class carrier under construction.

In an August memo , Trump pointed at a Navy that has suffered from “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 president suggested mandating that the Navy submit “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 CVN-81 [ USS Doris Miller ], including timelines and resourcing requirements.”

The White House’s order baffled naval experts. The Navy has not ordered a steam catapult in 20 years, with the last order placed for the USS George H. W. Bush, commissioned in 2009 as the final Nimitz-class carrier.

Finding a manufacturer for steam catapults, and then redesigning Ford-class carriers to accept them, would likely require sweeping manufacturing overhauls at considerable expense, critics of the order said.

Despite their planned phasing out, steam catapults are a proven technology. They were developed by Britain in the 1950s to replace the hydraulic catapults of World War II-era carriers and were later copied by the U.S.

“The decision was made in April 1952 that the steam catapult would probably be the most satisfactory type for a service catapult,” noted a 1954 article in the U.S. Naval Institute magazine Proceedings . “Arrangements were made for the manufac­turing rights to the British catapult. British drawings were obtained and redrawn to U. S. standards and modified to fit U.S. naval requirements.”

Manufactured for 21st century carriers, EMALS “is designed to expand the operational capability of Ford-class carriers, providing the Navy with capability for launching all current and future carrier air wing platforms – lightweight unmanned to heavy strike fighters.

The rapid evolution of unmanned aircraft, which may soon become the backbone of carrier air wings, will likely require a more sophisticated launch system. Recent contracts suggest the U.S. Navy is planning accordingly.

Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.

尽管美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对老式蒸汽弹射器怀有怀旧之情，但美国海军似乎仍将在其最新型航空母舰上坚持使用电磁弹射器。

美国海军最近授予了电磁飞机发射系统（EMALS）的合同，该系统利用电场产生的磁场从福特级航母上发射飞机。

Kato Engineering本周宣布获得一份价值4930万美元的合同，为电磁弹射系统（EMALS）的储能子系统提供支持。海军也在周三发布了一份供应商征询书，寻求为EMALS提供循环泵等组件的供应商。

海军方面认为，电磁弹射器加速更平稳，可以调整以弹射各种类型的飞机（例如无人机），可以重置以实现更快的弹射速度，并且所需的维护和人员更少。与此同时，中国正在为其新型福建级航母配备电磁弹射器。

特朗普在 8 月份重新提起蒸汽弹射器与电磁弹射系统的争论，当时他下令海军在正在建造的下一艘福特级航母“多丽丝·米勒”号上用较旧的电磁弹射系统替换 EMALS 系统。

在 8 月份的一份备忘录中，特朗普指出，海军遭受了“一系列造船挫折，这些挫折源于过于复杂的设计和反复的设计变更程序，导致成本增加、延误和取消”。

总统建议强制海军提交“一项计划，说明为建造 CVN-81（多丽丝·米勒号）航空母舰，用蒸汽和液压系统替换电磁飞机发射系统和先进武器升降机所需的措施，包括时间表和资源需求”。

白宫的命令令海军专家们感到困惑。海军已有20年未订购过蒸汽弹射器，上一次订购还是在2009年为“乔治·H·W·布什”号航空母舰订购的，该舰是最后一艘尼米兹级航母。

批评人士表示，寻找蒸汽弹射器的制造商，然后重新设计福特级航母以适应它们，可能需要进行彻底的制造改革，这将耗费相当大的资金。

尽管蒸汽弹射器已被计划逐步淘汰，但它仍然是一项成熟的技术。英国在20世纪50年代开发了蒸汽弹射器，用于取代二战时期航母上的液压弹射器，后来美国也采用了这种技术。

“1952年4月，我们决定蒸汽弹射器可能是最适合现役使用的弹射器类型，”1954年美国海军学会杂志《Proceedings》上的一篇文章指出。“我们获得了英国弹射器的生产权。我们获得了英国的图纸，并根据美国标准重新绘制，并进行了修改以满足美国海军的要求。”

EMALS 是为 21 世纪航母制造的，“旨在扩展福特级航母的作战能力，使海军能够发射所有当前和未来的航母舰载机联队平台——从轻型无人舰载机到重型攻击战斗机。

无人机的快速发展（它可能很快就会成为航母舰载机联队的中坚力量）很可能需要更先进的发射系统。最近的合同表明，美国海军正在为此做准备。

迈克尔·佩克是《防务新闻》的通讯员，也是欧洲政策分析中心的专栏作家。他拥有罗格斯大学政治学硕士学位。您可以在theuncommondefense.com找到他。他的邮箱是mikedefense1@gmail.com。