* Trump will require newest Ford-class aircraft carrier to

abandon newer jet launching system

* Design change could cost hundreds of millions of dollars

* Trump also opens door to foreign shipbuilding for Navy for

first time in decades

(Recasts and adds details throughout)

Aug 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has allowed

the Navy to build ships overseas and ordered it to abandon a

complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft

carriers and instead return to using steam catapults, the White

House said on Thursday.

Trump signed a national security memorandum directing the

change, which would require the fourth vessel in the Gerald R.

Ford class of aircraft carriers to abandon the Electromagnetic

Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used on the first three vessels.

The design change is expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of

millions of dollars.

Huntington Ingalls is the primary contractor

building Ford-class aircraft carriers. Huntington's shares were

up slightly in after-hours trading in New York.

As of March 2026, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship in

the new class of carriers, had completed 36,863 EMALS launches,

according to Pentagon documents.

The design change will occur on the Doris Miller, the fourth

ship in the planned Ford class. The keel for the Doris Miller is

slated to be laid by the end of 2026 with delivery anticipated

by the Navy in early 2034.

Trump has frequently criticized the Navy's electromagnetic

launch system as being more expensive and not as effective as

steam catapults.

"Billions of dollars more they spent on electric catapults

and they're not good. They're not nearly as good, too complex,"

Trump said at a defense summit in Pennsylvania last month.

When the Navy selected EMALS in 2009, it said it would lower

overall lifecycle costs, require less maintenance than steam

catapults and generate less physical stress on carrier-based

aircraft. The system, also selected by France's navy, had

initial troubles but has since completed thousands of launches.

General Atomics, the maker of EMALS, said in a statement

that the decision not to proceed with the system on the Doris

Miller warranted "careful reconsideration."

"With nearly 50% of production complete, changing course

now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration

risks," General Atomics said.

The Navy referred requests for comment to the White House.

The memo Trump signed also opens up the Navy to having ships

made overseas for the first time in decades.

Foreign shipbuilders who have made "substantial and durable

investments" in U.S. shipyards "will be temporarily permitted to

build up to two ships in their parent shipyards that will be

delivered to bridge gaps on a quick turnaround," to supplement

ships built in U.S. shipyards.

Australian shipbuilder Austal ( AUTLF ) said on Tuesday that

Hanwha Group had offered to buy its U.S. operations for up to

$1.2 billion as the South Korean conglomerate seeks to expand in

the American defense market.

Trump's memo also instructed the secretary of defense to

establish a fifth Navy shipyard to increase submarine and

aircraft carrier repair capacity.