
Trump wants new aircraft carriers returned to 'Goddamned steam' power catapults - anigbrowl
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/11/trump-new-aircraft-carrier-u-s-s-gerald-ford-emals-steam-launch-catapults-navy/?utm_content=bufferdccaa&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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zkms
I get that there've been cost problems and implementation issues with bringing
EMALS into full readiness, but that's not a reason to kill electromagnetic
aircraft launch altogether. Electromagnetic aircraft launch has significant
legitimate technical advantages over steam: not needing high pressure steam
piping, being able to precisely meter the acceleration profile (to reduce
stress on airframes), not having "cold cat" issues, and being able to deploy
it (or downsized versions of it) on vessels that do not have ample steam /
desalinated water supplies.

Subcontracting out components of a complex system makes sense _after_ it's has
been properly designed and tested in the field and all the hard-learned
lessons have been internalised. Applying this methodology to creating the
first instance of a system that has never _been_ fielded before is not likely
to work so well. Expecting the semi-incestuous menagerie of {General Atomics,
Alion Science and Technology, Kato Engineering, L3, QinetiQ, STV, Inc.,
Curtiss-Wright, ESCO, ITT} to create a deployment-ready EMALS with no fielded
precedents was a huge mistake. Taking a complex, never-built-before weapons
system and putting it in production while it's still in testing is folly,
having its development overseen by a literal clusterfuck of subcontractors
doubly so.

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valuearb
Electronic catapults need to operate for months at a time without problems, so
far they can't even do days.

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taxicabjesus
The article offers context for the quote towards the end:

    
    
      But some experts say Trump’s comments, already 
      being widely mocked among defense types, aren’t 
      without merits, lauding in particular his push to 
      name-and-shame vast defense cost overruns on 
      systems like EMALS.
      
      “The president’s critique of the program is 
      correct. He’s right to be frustrated and he’s 
      right to step in and tell the Navy to pay greater 
      attention to these overruns,” said Jerry Hendrix, 
      a navy expert at the Center for a New American 
      Security.
      
      The price tag for the three Ford-class aircraft 
      carriers ballooned from $27 billion to $36 
      billion in the past decade, and the project is 
      behind schedule in part because of the EMALS 
      system, as the Atlantic reported. Sen. John 
      McCain (R-Ariz.), chair of the Senate Armed 
      Services Committee, slammed the carrier project 
      as “one of the most spectacular acquisition 
      debacles in recent memory” in 2015.

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valuearb
First he was right about Andrew Jackson, now he's right about carrier
catapults? What the heck is going on?

On May 1, 1833, Jackson wrote, "the tariff was only the pretext, and disunion
and southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro,
or slavery question"

And electronic catapults have failed all testing and aren't remotely ready for
actual service.

