President Donald Trump ordered the Navy to return to steam catapults on aircraft carriers replacing electromagnetic launch systems on Ford-class carriers.
The national security memorandum also targeted advanced weapons elevators and directed system choices for the new USS Doris Miller.
The memo instructed substitution of steam catapults and hydraulic elevators for electromagnetic launchers and advanced weapons elevators during the carrier's construction.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao were ordered to develop a replacement plan within sixty days.
The carrier is being built by Huntington Ingalls, the US's largest military shipbuilder and the main contractor for Gerald R. Ford-class carriers.
The Navy began using electromagnetic catapults after a successful initial test and said the system improved maintenance and increased efficiency and reliability.
The Navy said the electromagnetic launch system offered higher launch energy capacity and more accurate end-speed control.
President Trump publicly criticized the electromagnetic system as costly and overly complex at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit.
'Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults, and they're not good,' he said.
'They're not nearly as good, too complex,' he said.
Impacts And Industrial Base Changes
The White House fact sheet accompanying the memorandum said shipbuilding suffered setbacks from overly complex designs and iterative change procedures.
The fact sheet said those practices had driven cost growth, delays, cancellations and left six major shipbuilding programs backlogged by limited capacity and competition.
The memorandum directed the War Department to restore capacity and competition in the maritime industrial base as the Navy expands its force structure.
The White House said it would temporarily permit foreign shipbuilders to build up to two ships in their parent yards to support quick turnarounds.
The administration pointed to a $6 billion agreement with Finland to build icebreakers as a model for mixed foreign and domestic construction.
That deal, announced by President Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, calls for seven icebreakers to be built in the US and four in Finland.
The memorandum also ordered establishment of a fifth naval shipyard to increase aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarine readiness.
It directed creation of a component repair center to hold, repair and refurbish parts for the Navy's submarine programs.
Trump also tasked Hegseth with a full review and reorganization of Naval Sea Systems Command to address shipbuilding problems.
The proposed reforms should include results-based accountability measured by production speed and steps to reduce red tape and bureaucracy, the memorandum said.
The Epoch Times said it reached out to the Navy for comment and received no response before publication, and Reuters contributed to the report.
