White House Memo Orders Pentagon to Consider Foreign-Built Warships and Steam Catapults on Ford Carriers

President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on Thursday directing the Navy to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam catapults and hydraulic systems beginning with CVN-81, the future USS Doris Miller, with the Secretary of War due to deliver an implementation plan within 60 days 12. The memo also directs use of a "Finland Model" allowing foreign shipbuilders to construct up to three classes of Navy vessels, including anti-submarine surface combatants, roll-on/roll-off cargo ships and CONSOL tankers, provided the foreign firm builds or takes majority ownership of a US shipyard and shifts production stateside after the first two ships 12. Within 120 days the Secretary of War must submit a plan for a fifth public Navy shipyard focused on submarine and carrier readiness, alongside a broader NAVSEA reform review 23. EMALS manufacturer General Atomics said the system is nearly 50 percent complete on CVN-81 and warned the reversal would add cost, schedule and integration risk 13, while the Shipbuilders Council of America said building warships abroad would divert jobs and industrial capacity from US yards 1.