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[Spoiled Milk]

From the Atlantic

Navy officials were “blindsided” on Thursday, a spokesman told me, by President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he has convinced the Navy to abandon a long-planned digital launching system in favor of steam on its newest aircraft carrier.

In a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine, Trump described his disgust with the catapult system known as Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System, nicknamed EMALS, aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford. (Time has published only excerpts from the interview, not a full transcript.) The president described wanting to scrap EMALS, a key technological upgrade at the center of the multibillion-dollar carrier project, and return to steam.

I said, “You don’t use steam anymore for catapult?” “No sir.” I said, “Ah, how is it working?” “Sir, not good. Not good. Doesn’t have the power. You know the steam is just brutal. You see that sucker going and steam’s going all over the place, there’s planes thrown in the air.”

It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? 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.”

It’s not that EMALS has been a smashing success. Cost and schedule overruns have given the Navy carrier project a reputation for being "one of the most spectacular acquisition debacles in recent memory,” as Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, put it in 2015. “And that is saying something.” The construction of three Ford-class aircraft carriers has swelled from $27 billion to $36 billion in the last 10 years.

But the problems with the Ford-class carrier program are more organizational than technological—a common theme among infrastructural megaprojects. McCain blamed “misalignment of accountability and responsibility in our defense acquisition system” and the vast bureaucracy of defense acquisition systems, which span multiple offices and program managers.

Trump seems to have seized on the project’s bad reputation without appreciating—or at least without clearly articulating—the complexities of moving from steam to digital.

The steam-powered catapult systems that are being replaced have been used to launch airplanes from U.S. carriers for some six decades now. Not only are steam systems are harder to maintain than electrical ones; they have a lower upper-limit during combat—meaning electrical systems can launch more aircraft in a shorter amount of time. Electrical systems can also better handle smaller aircrafts and drones compared with steam. Steam systems also put more stress on airframes, and make them more prone to corrosion. Not only that, but carriers themselves are exceedingly vulnerable to attack—meaning outfitting them with the modern defense systems is a priority.

 

[snacknuts]

But her EMALS

 

[Akuun]

Seagull management in action, everyone.

 

[Regiruler]

But her EMALS

Fuck you for posting this before I could

 

[m_shortpants]

What the fuck is he even saying

Fucking infuriating that it's impossible to decipher the words that come out the US PRESIDENT'S mouth.

 

[Guevara]

trebuchet memes go here

 

[Marvel]

But her EMALS

Damn you.

 

[Oersted]

Whoever the performance artist is that the Onion got into the White House, he is doing one hell of a job

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Avatar made me think Huelen was back.

 

[Transistor]

But her EMALS

sensiblechuckle.gif

 

[SocksAndShoes]

His stupidity is on a completely different level. This is Homer Simpson level stupid.

 

[Zeus Molecules]

Putin approves

 

[FunkyMunkey]

gaben.gif

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

This is his idea of making the military better?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[KraftyKrankins]

But her EMALS

Easiest joke in the world and still 10/10.

 

[radios shipping overview]

Cool, it's like a railgun for fighter jets?

 

[Spoiled Milk]

Avatar made me think Huelen was back.

I really miss her.

 

[Sectorseven]

Steam catapults would support a lot of coal jobs.

 

[Shaanyboi]

...what the fuck

 

[BreezyLimbo]

He wants steam

Does he think this is the 1850s

 

[enzo_gt]

What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.

 

[Regiruler]

So from reading parts of the OP, there is an unnecessarily exorbitant price increase in aircraft carriers, partly due to the change, but the technology itself isn't the really expensive part?

 

[wandering]

trebuchet memes go here

Can digital launch a 90kg projectile a distance of up to 300 meters? I DON'T THINK SO

 

[The Albatross]

But her EMALS

you did it first

 

[WordAssassin]

Oh my god when I saw the name of the system is fucking EMALS I open-mouth smiled so big I thought my head would crack in half holy shit

 

[Wowfunhappy]

How is the president actually this much of a moron?

Like I should expect stuff like this by now, but still. This is just so utterly nonsensical.

 

[RinsFury]

Unbelievable how stupid this man is. Months later I shouldn't even be surprised anymore, but he still somehow finds new ways to disappoint each day.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

I welcome our steampunk dystopia.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

What the fuck is he even saying

Fucking infuriating that it's impossible to decipher the words that come out the US PRESIDENT'S mouth.

I know this isn't an original idea, but he truly sounds like a senile old man.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

But her EMALS

If only she had used Goddamned Steam EMALS!

Stupid digital EMALS!

 

[Spoiled Milk]

So from reading parts of the OP, there is an unnecessarily exorbitant price increase in aircraft carriers, partly due to the change, but the technology itself isn't the really expensive part?

All infrastructure projects in the US (and probably the world) are expensive due to mismanagement, which is one reason why our defense budget is so enormous. Trump was right to complain about the upgrade cost but wrong about what to do about it.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I want steam! And sails. Endless sails. Imagine how much money we'll save.

 

[GurgleBot20]

Mr. Burns is the president.

 

[collige]

So, cyber is good but digital is bad. Got it.

 

[Incandenza]

Can't his son just explain it to him? He's good with the cyber.

 

[Col WillieSharp]

All infrastructure projects in the US (and probably the world) are expensive due to mismanagement, which is one reason why our defense budget is so enormous. Trump was right to complain about the upgrade cost but wrong about what to do about it.

I don't understand. Are you HUELEN or not?

 

[theechrisfox]

The only true pussy-grabbin' Christian candidate.

 

[Enduin]

He just wants to be able to go on the carrier and pull the chain on a steam whistle like a big boy.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

"hundreds of millions of dollars more money"

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MORE MONEY

This guy is having a mental breakdown.

 

[DonShula]

It sounds like he's trotted out this line before when talking about building materials.

 

[Regiruler]

Maybe this is stealth promotion for Code Name: S.T.E.A.M 2.

 

[thechristoph]

He used the lord's name in vain! Summon the evangelicals!

 

[Justin Bailey]

At this point I'm surprised he didn't suggest we just have a shitload of people shoveling coal into a furnace.

 

[Netherscourge]

Goddamned Gabe and his goddamned Steam.

 

[Grym]

Steam?! What the fuck!? I have a better idea

 

[nintendoman58]

Trump, you're not going to get Half Life 3 by begging the Navy to install Steam.

Spoiler

I tried.

 

[Mudcrab]

Navy to Trump: These things, they take time.

 

[LilZippa]

Analog is the new digital!

 

[Ozigizo]

I really miss her.

Lol

Nah

 

[CHC]

But her EMALS

Gaaaaaaaaaahd