General Atomics will manufacture and install the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) for US' third-generation Ford-class aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN 80), according to the US Department of Defense in a press release.

The California-based company has been awarded $195.2 million "to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option for the manufacture, assembly, inspection, test and checkout of the advanced arresting gear for the CVN 80 shipset," the release stated on Thursday.

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The Navy aircraft on board the Ford are expected to utilize the EMALS instead of the steam-fueled system used in the past. Most of the work will be completed in San Diego, California, while portions will be done in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Boston, Massachusetts, and other locations across the US. Work is expected to finish by September 2027.

The CVN-80 Enterprise, which is more than 1,100 ft long and displaces over 100,000 tons, will be the third in the General R. Ford-class line of aircraft carriers. It is equipped by two nuclear reactors that provide virtually unlimited range. The Enterprise could accommodate 75 aircraft and has several point defense missiles and guns to protect against incoming enemy missiles.

Meanwhile, aside from the Ford, General Atomics also holds the contract to supply the Navy's two following carriers in that class. The Ford class is the biggest carriers ever built and cost more than $13 billion per ship. The Gerald R. Ford, the first in the class, is anticipated to enter service this year.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Time Magazine earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said that the EMALS is too complicated and suggested that the Navy should keep its steam-powered aircraft launch system.

"What is digital? And it's very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out... I said what system are you going to be - 'Sir, we're staying with digital'. I said no you're not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it's no good," Trump said. Of note, the "digital" refers to the electromagnetic system.