Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
Trump's aircraft carrier wish could affect area employer General Atomics
By Dennis Seid
TUPELO • For at least the fourth time since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump railed against the U.S. Navy’s next-generation catapult system being installed in new aircraft carriers.
On Monday, Trump told sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, “So I think I’m going to put an order: When we build a new aircraft carrier, we’re going to use steam. We’re spending all that money on electric, and nobody knows what it’s going to be like in bad conditions.”
The president was referring to the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, that has been developed by San Diego-based General Atomics.
While experts say Trump’s wish is unlikely to happen in the near future, since one carrier has been built and two more are under construction, changes to the carrier program down the road could affect some of the 300 workers at General Atomics’ facility in the Tupelo-Lee Industrial Park South.
The company has built and tested components for EMALS at its facility there, where earlier this year it announced for the 11th time since opening in 2005 – and the fourth time since 2013 – that it is expanding its sprawling facility.
The company’s Electromagnetic Systems division in Shannon said it was adding 75 jobs through a $50 million project to accommodate the addition of an unspecified new product line. General Atomic’s last expansion was announced last year, a $20 million investment that added 48 jobs, as well as a 128,000-square-foot addition.
When General Atomics first opened in Shannon, its main mission was to help design and build EMALS, which replaces the steam-powered launching system used in older U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. The newest carrier to the fleet, the $13 billion U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, is equipped with EMALS, as well as the arresting gear made by General Atomics.
That work will continue, as three more carriers will be built. It takes about seven years to build each system.
The company currently has more than 300 workers in Shannon, and new workers are expected to make $41,600 a year, on average.
The president has not been a fan of EMALS, and in a May 2017 interview with Time magazine, said he told his military commanders, “You’re going to (expletive) steam.”
Rep. Trent Kelly, who represents Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, didn’t directly respond to Trump’s most recent comments, but did reiterate his support for General Atomics.
“General Atomics is a key contributor to the communities and economy of North Mississippi,” he said. “I will continue the push to support General Atomics as a leader in the defense industry.”
The White House and Congress have yet to reach a budget agreement covering Fiscal Year 2020, and potentially FY2021, in order to avoid automatic sequestration cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Without a budget agreement, the Senate Appropriations Committee has not determined funding allocations for the 12 subcommittees to use to write the FY2020 appropriations bills.
Meanwhile, the Navy’s FY2020 budget request recommends $593.3 million for the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System in FY2020.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., said, “We’re early in the fiscal year 2020 defense appropriations process. General Atomics in Mississippi provides cutting-edge technology to the Defense Department, and it has my support to continue that good work.”
The state's senior senior, Republican Roger Wicker, has been a big proponent of expanding the Navy's fleet, as well as an EMALS supporter.
In a statement, he said, “I continue to support the electromagnetic aircraft launch systems that have been incorporated into the Ford-class aircraft carriers. This system represents the future of carrier-based flight. I will continue working with the Pentagon and the Administration to ensure this system realizes its full potential.”
Navy, General Atomics silent
According to Politico, the Navy declined to comment on Trump’s latest remarks, instead referring all questions to the White House. The White House, however, did not respond to questions on whether Trump will formally order the Navy to abandon EMALS.
General Atomics also declined to comment.
The launch system and arresting gear are made by General Atomics for the new Gerald R. Ford-class carriers. The Ford has been delivered to the Navy, while the Kennedy and Enterprise are under construction. They were designed to use electromagnetic systems not only for launching and arresting gear, but also other systems like rail guns and lasers. The carriers are not fitted to fit more space-consuming steam piping, so any change would have to be for future carriers.
But the Navy has banked on the Ford as its next-generation of carriers, and any future design changes could potentially cost billions more.
James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told senators in November that the Navy had logged more than 740 launches using the new system aboard the Ford.
According to Politico, Geurts said, “We are feeling pretty confident on both of those systems.”
At that meeting, Wicker asked Geurts, “Are we gonna be glad we went with EMALS and the Advanced Arresting Gear?”
“Yes, sir,” Geurts said.
Trump’s biggest complaint is the cost overruns of the EMALS and arresting gear, which the Government Accountability Office said was a “concern.”
The GAO noted that the carrier program is some $900 million over the original budget set in 2004.
General Atomics has played a major role in not only developing EMALS, it also has developed the matching Advanced Arresting Gear, which helps stop the planes when they land on a carrier.
In 2017, General Atomics was awarded a contract for the AAG valued at more than $195 million. Earlier that year, GA said also it had won a $533 million sole-source contract to install EMALS on the Enterprise.
Those contracts, GA said, established the company as the sole-source provider of both the AAG and the EMALS for all three Ford-class carriers – Gerald R. Ford, John F. Kennedy and Enterprise.
The new aircraft carriers are more than 1,100 feet long and displace more than 100,000 tons each. Each carrier is powered by two nuclear reactors and can carry 75 aircraft. The Gerald R. Ford is the first new aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy since 1975, when the U.S.S. Nimitz jointed the fleet.