The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is an electromagnetic catapult system developed by General Atomics for the United States Navy's CATOBAR supercarriers. The system enables assisted takeoffs of carrier-based aircraft by means of a linear induction motor-based catapult rather than the steam catapults used on the earlier Forrestal-class, Kitty Hawk-class, Enterprise-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The EMALS was first installed on the USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship of the new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, c. 2015.