Swordsmyth
06-16-2017, 01:55 AM
When asked about the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, Trump spoke about the catapult system being used for the ship. Traditionally (http://science.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier3.htm), aircraft carriers have used steam power to essentially slingshot planes into the air. However, the new carrier was and is slated to use a new electromagnetic system, called EMALS (http://www.ga.com/emals), designed by General Atomics.
This did not sit well with Trump.
“They have digital. What is digital?” Trump said. “And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said— and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, ‘What system are you going to be — ‘ ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.’”
At the time, the Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/trump-wants-goddamned-steam-not-digital-catapults-on-aircraft-carriers/526386/), Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-15/trump-s-military-ignorance-steams-full-speed-ahead), Foreign Policy (http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/11/trump-new-aircraft-carrier-u-s-s-gerald-ford-emals-steam-launch-catapults-navy/), The Hill and Slate (http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/05/11/donald_trump_is_complaining_about_the_navy_s_catap ults_what.html) all ran articles or columns criticizing his comments and highlighting the advantages of EMALS, including less wear-and-tear on planes, reduced maintenance and the ability to launch more planes more quickly.
But on Thursday, information surfaced that showed that Trump’s criticism of EMALS had at least some legitimacy. According to Ars Technica (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/uss-ford-is-ready-for-service-except-for-the-plane-launching-part/), new technology being developed by General Atomics to catch planes as they land went through a troubled production, ending up tripling in cost from just over $300 million to $961 million.
And more directly related to Trump’s comments about catapults, EMALS is reportedly not perfect either, according to Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-15/new-u-s-carrier-hobbled-by-flaws-in-launching-landing-planes?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%206.15.17&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief). At the moment, EMALS cannot generate enough power to launch certain aircraft with extra fuel tanks, “a handicap that could limit ... effectiveness in combat,” per Bloomberg.
More at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article156391084.html
This did not sit well with Trump.
“They have digital. What is digital?” Trump said. “And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said— and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, ‘What system are you going to be — ‘ ‘Sir, we’re staying with digital.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.’”
At the time, the Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/trump-wants-goddamned-steam-not-digital-catapults-on-aircraft-carriers/526386/), Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-15/trump-s-military-ignorance-steams-full-speed-ahead), Foreign Policy (http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/11/trump-new-aircraft-carrier-u-s-s-gerald-ford-emals-steam-launch-catapults-navy/), The Hill and Slate (http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/05/11/donald_trump_is_complaining_about_the_navy_s_catap ults_what.html) all ran articles or columns criticizing his comments and highlighting the advantages of EMALS, including less wear-and-tear on planes, reduced maintenance and the ability to launch more planes more quickly.
But on Thursday, information surfaced that showed that Trump’s criticism of EMALS had at least some legitimacy. According to Ars Technica (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/uss-ford-is-ready-for-service-except-for-the-plane-launching-part/), new technology being developed by General Atomics to catch planes as they land went through a troubled production, ending up tripling in cost from just over $300 million to $961 million.
And more directly related to Trump’s comments about catapults, EMALS is reportedly not perfect either, according to Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-15/new-u-s-carrier-hobbled-by-flaws-in-launching-landing-planes?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%206.15.17&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief). At the moment, EMALS cannot generate enough power to launch certain aircraft with extra fuel tanks, “a handicap that could limit ... effectiveness in combat,” per Bloomberg.
More at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article156391084.html