(Central News Agency, Washington, 15th Comprehensive Foreign News Report) Following U.S. President Trump’s recent directive to resume the use of traditional steam catapults on future aircraft, seven current and former U.S. officials familiar with the situation revealed that the U.S. Navy is currently further evaluating whether to significantly redesign the “island” location of new aircraft to cater to Trump’s preference for the appearance of warships.
The Washington Post reported that seven people familiar with the matter said the Navy is currently evaluating whether it is feasible to move the Island, which serves as the ship's command center, from the current design's position near the stern to the center of the ship to make it look more like older ships.
The assessment, which has not been revealed before, comes in response to Trump's concerns about the design and appearance of the next-generation Ford-class aircraft carrier.
The timing and scope of the Navy's internal review are unclear. Current and former officials said such changes would be time-consuming and costly, and the Navy was cautious about the approach. The above persons requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
If the location of the ship island is really moved, it will become the second major design change promoted by Trump after taking office. On the 13th, Trump issued a national security memorandum instructing the Navy to formulate plans to resume the use of traditional steam catapults on future aircraft carriers to assist fighter jets in taking off from the flight deck.
Current and former officials pointed out that Trump wanted the appearance of the new aircraft to be as close as possible to the warships that served during World War II.
A former senior U.S. official said that the Navy had discussed this issue as early as Trump's first term, when studies showed that reconfiguring the ship island could cause billions of dollars in additional design costs and seriously slow down the construction schedule.
There are currently three Ford-class aircraft carriers in different stages of construction: the USS John F. Kennedy is undergoing sea trials and is expected to join the fleet soon; the USS Enterprise and the USS Doris Miller are still under construction. The first ship of its class, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has been put into service and has only recently ended its long-term combat deployment in the Middle East.
According to the latest shipbuilding plans of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Navy, the United States will build up to 10 Ford-class aircraft carriers in the next 40 years, with an estimated cost of each ship reaching US$22 billion (approximately NT$700 billion).
Bryan Clark, a researcher at the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington, and a former naval officer, said that if the location of the ship island is really adjusted, it will be a "large-scale redesign" that will inevitably affect the buoyancy and weight configuration of the warship, and the cost will be considerable.
Both the Pentagon and the U.S. Navy referred requests for comment to the White House. When asked whether Trump intended to relocate future Ford-class aircraft carrier islands, the White House responded with a newly released national security memorandum, but the document did not directly address the issue.
Another U.S. official familiar with discussions on catapult and ship island adjustments pointed out that the Navy attaches great importance to these two issues because once adjustments are made, it may cause problems such as project delays and cost control.
The national security memorandum issued on the 13th stipulates that future Ford-class aircraft carriers must use traditional steam catapult systems instead of the current advanced electromagnetic catapults. The memo emphasized the government's preference for "mature, reliable and affordable technology and warship designs."
Such changes could also cost billions of dollars and further exacerbate long-running delays in the U.S. shipbuilding industry, officials said.
The first ship of the Ford class, the USS Ford, took 17 years to complete. At that time, progress was delayed due to the adoption of many new technologies, one of which was the electromagnetic catapult. The Navy later confirmed that the system performed extremely well.
Ford-class aircraft carriers will gradually replace the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that have been in service since the late 1960s.
