Trump to Navy: Digital Catapult 'No Good', 'You Going to Goddamned Steam'

Donald Trump said he told the Navy the new digital system would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it was "no good".

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Thursday that the ordered the US Navy to stop using a new digital Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) for launching planes from the Ford-class aircraft carriers and return to the old catapult method.

"You know the catapult is quite important," Trump said in an interview with TIME. "It sounded bad to me. Digital… [so] I said no you’re not. You going to goddamned steam."

The EMALS is intended to launch planes from aircraft carriers using a linear induction motor and replace the old steam piston method. The system is still under development by General Atomics.

Trump said he told the Navy the digital system would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it was "no good."

The aircraft carrier Gerald Ford is the first to use EMALS and the John F. Kennedy is set to use the new system.

On May 2, the US Defense Department awarded two contracts totaling $90 million for engineering maintenance to modernize US aircraft carriers.