Trump allows Navy to build ships abroad, orders return to steam catapults on carriers

United States President Donald Trump has allowed the Navy to build ships overseas and ordered it to abandon a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead return to using steam catapults, the White House said on Thursday (Aug 13).Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the change, which would require the fourth vessel in the Gerald R Ford class of aircraft carriers to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the first three vessels. The design change is expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.Huntington Ingalls is the primary contractor building Ford-class aircraft carriers. Huntington's shares were up slightly in after-hours trading in New York.As of March 2026, the USS Gerald R Ford, the lead s