文明之旅

Political preferences clash with warship building realities as Trump pushes costly Ford class carrier revamp: experts_我的网站

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    The USS Gerald R. Ford departs from Souda Naval Base near Chania on the island of Crete, Greece, on February 26, 2026. Photo: VCGUS President Donald Trump's reported push to reshape the US Navy's next-generation aircraft carriers - from moving the island to abandoning electromagnetic catapults in favor of steam-powered systems - could impose heavy engineering, financial and schedule costs, Chinese military affairs experts said, warning of a widening gap between political preferences and the realities of building some of the world's most complex warships.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the US Navy is considering a major redesign of its new Ford-class aircraft carriers to better match Trump's preferred aesthetic, with the president favoring ships that more closely resemble US carriers from the World War II era. One option under study would move the carrier's island farther forward, toward the middle of the ship.
US officials cited by the report warned that such a change could require billions of dollars in redesign costs and cause substantial delays. 
The potential island redesign comes only days after Trump ordered another far-reaching change to the Ford-class program. On Thursday, he signed a national security memorandum directing the Pentagon and Navy to develop a plan within 60 days to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) with steam catapults and the Ford-class carriers' Advanced Weapons Elevators with hydraulic systems, beginning with the future USS Doris Miller, or CVN-81, USNI News reported. 
Trump has repeatedly criticized EMALS as "too complex" and "not as effective as steam catapults," according to Reuters. 
But the order would reverse a technology path the US Navy has pursued for more than a decade. When the Navy selected EMALS in 2009, it said the system would lower overall lifecycle costs, require less maintenance than steam catapults and place less physical stress on carrier-based aircraft, per Reuters.
As of March 2026, the USS Gerald R. Ford had conducted 36,863 EMALS launches, according to Pentagon documents cited by Reuters. 
General Atomics, the manufacturer of EMALS, has warned against changing course on the Doris Miller, saying nearly 50 percent of production related to the system has already been completed and that a switch now would create significant cost, schedule and integration risks, according to Reuters. 
Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Sunday that the Ford-class carrier's aft-positioned island is not merely an aesthetic choice, but is closely tied to flight-deck efficiency and landing safety. "Moving the island farther aft creates more space around the catapults for aircraft parking and handling, helping shorten launch preparation time, while also reducing airflow disturbance during aircraft recovery," he said. 
Relocating the island forward would not be a simple cosmetic adjustment, but a major redesign affecting weight distribution, buoyancy, flight-deck layout and aerodynamics, with significant implications for both cost and schedule, Zhang noted.
Song Zhongping, another Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that Trump's demand is one thing, but turning it into an actual warship design is another.
"The first four Ford-class carriers have either entered service or are already in different stages of construction, leaving very little room for fundamental changes to their overall designs," Song said. Even the fifth and sixth ships - the future USS William J. Clinton, CVN-82, and USS George W. Bush, CVN-83 - would face considerable cost and engineering consequences if the Navy attempts to overturn their established technological architecture, he said.
The US Navy officially announced the names of CVN-82 and CVN-83 in January 2025, per the US Navy official website. 
"There is an obvious gap between US President's political will and the engineering realities of aircraft-carrier construction," Song said.
Such proposed changes come as Ford-class construction timelines have already grown considerably compared with those of the preceding Nimitz class. The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in April that Nimitz-class carriers typically took seven to eight years to build, while Ford-class ships are currently taking roughly 10 to 11 years. In a separate assessment released this month, the CBO estimated that future Ford-class carriers under the Navy's 2027 shipbuilding plan could cost about $22 billion apiece. 
"Electromagnetic launch represents an advanced direction in aircraft-carrier catapult technology and has far greater development potential than traditional steam catapults," Song said. "If the US gives up electromagnetic catapults and returns to steam catapults, that would be a technological regression and a step backward."
Echoing Song, Zhang said electromagnetic catapults offer more precise control of launch energy and broader compatibility with different types of carrier-based aircraft, while requiring less shipboard space than steam systems with their extensive high-pressure piping.
"Replacing EMALS with steam catapults on a Ford-class carrier already designed around electromagnetic launch would not only represent a technological step backward, but could also turn an attempt to reduce risk into a new source of engineering and system-integration risk," Zhang said.
。    每日商报讯 台风过境，本已偃旗息鼓的高温又重振旗鼓，昨天，杭城迎来久违的阳光，主城区跃上35.7℃，高温叠加高湿，有种重回“黄梅天”的错觉。

二 | 不过，台风残涡并未就此作罢，“尾巴”还将持续洒水。截至昨日19时，杭州市主城区、临平区、临安区等多地发布暴雨黄色预警，余杭区发布暴雨红色预警。为什么明明台风已经停编，却还在大面积“洒水”？市气象台解释，从卫星云图上来看，“白海豚”的残余环流结合了西风槽以及台风的尾流，共同组合成为范围广阔的降水系统。而在天气形势图上，这片降水系统的东边和西边都是高压系统，导致降水系统相对较为稳定。

三 | 受其影响，杭州在短期之内多雨的天气格局不会改变。值得注意的是，接下来强降雨还可能会杀个“回马枪”。这是因为，“白海豚”的尾流里西南季风和高压底部的东南气流交汇，还将催生出新的低压系统，未来“白海豚”的残余低压缓慢东移，与东边新生低压逐渐靠近，进一步增强杭州上空的辐合上升运动，加上季风源源不断输送水汽，预计今明两天杭州的降雨量将会明显增大，局地可能出现短时强降水、雷雨大风等强对流天气。好在，等这波雨水过去，本周日将迎来降雨暂歇，全省以多云到阴为主，部分有阵雨或雷雨，算是难得的“中场休息”。另外，台风还在扎堆生成，今年第17号台风“浪卡”（热带风暴级;英文名称Nangka;名字来源:马来西亚;名称意义:又名菠萝蜜果，黄色椭圆形状，是马来西亚非常流行的一种水果）于昨天上午在西北太平洋洋面上生成，下午5时许位于距离日本东京东南方向约1510公里的海面上，预计将以每小时30—35公里的速度向东北方向移动，未来“浪卡”对我国无影响。可以说，8月以来台风似乎无间断，如此密集生成是不是有点反常？其实，西北太平洋和南海一年四季都可能有台风生成，7月至9月是台风活跃季，8月台风生成的数量与登陆我国的个数均居于全年首位。8月平均有5.63个台风生成，其中2.3个登陆我国。近期台风密集，总体也符合常年规律，历年8月台风生成数最多的是1960年，多达14个。

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Published on:11:34:27