Trump 'steamed' about new Navy aircraft launch mechanism

Washington Post:
Trump blasts Navy’s aircraft catapult

The president described a new system for launching planes as “no good” and said the Navy should go back to “Goddamned steam,” the method used on aircraft carriers for decades. A Pentagon official said that the comments caught defense officials off-guard and are inaccurate.
I suspect that someone who does not like the new device has the President's ear, since it is unlikely he has ever been catapult off a carrier.

Either the new system or the old are better than the launch procedures used by the Russians and the Chinese where they put a ramp on the front of the ship to give the plane a little more lift.  The latter method limits the weight of the plane making it have a shorter time over target and also limits the munitions the plane can carry.

I think the new system pas teh potential to be better than the old if they can work out the bugs.  it has been described in some places as similar to that used in rail guns.

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