The U.S. Navy's Aircraft Carriers Would Be Useless in a China War

[rangerrebew]

March 14, 2024   
The U.S. Navy's Aircraft Carriers Would Be Useless in a China War

The US Navy has long prized the power projection capabilities that its wildly expensive, massive aircraft carriers have allowed for. That might end in disaster.

by Brandon J. Weichert

Summary: The US Navy faces a significant strategic challenge due to the rise of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems, particularly from countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. These systems threaten to render US aircraft carriers and their air wings, including advanced F-35B and F-35C warplanes, obsolete by preventing them from getting close enough to enemy territories to be effective. This issue, highlighted nearly a decade ago, points to a broader problem within the Navy and the US military's procurement strategy, which has continued to invest in legacy systems like aircraft carriers and F-35s without adequately addressing the evolving nature of warfare.
 

Beyond the Aircraft Carrier: Reimagining US Naval Strategy Against A2/AD Threats
The US Navy has long prized the power projection capabilities that its wildly expensive, massive aircraft carriers have allowed for.


Yet, the advent of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems has led the US Navy to a dangerous place.

Namely, its aircraft carriers, the Navy’s primary weapon at sea, will be rendered useless before even the first shots in any war with an A2/AD-wielding power (such as China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea) were ever fired.


And it isn’t just the aircraft carriers that would be made obsolete overnight by sophisticated A2/AD systems, of the kind that China possesses. It is the air wings of advanced warplanes, such as the F-35B and F-35C variants and other warplanes, that depend on the aircraft carrier to nestle in close to a rival’s territory, allowing for the warplanes to do their jobs.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/us-navys-aircraft-carriers-would-be-useless-china-war-210007

[rangerrebew]

March 14, 2024 

The U.S. Navy Needs to Stop Building Aircraft Carriers

The US Navy faces a strategic crisis due to the rise of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities by adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. These developments challenge traditional naval power projection, particularly the effectiveness of aircraft carriers in such contested environments. T

by Brandon J. Weichert

Summary: The US Navy faces a strategic crisis due to the rise of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities by adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. These developments challenge traditional naval power projection, particularly the effectiveness of aircraft carriers in such contested environments. To adapt, the Navy needs to embrace a new force posture focusing on stealth, submersibles, directed energy weapons, drones, and hypersonic weapons. Despite this, investment continues in aircraft carriers, overlooking the strategic advantage of submarines, especially in potential conflicts over Taiwan or the South China Sea. The Navy's current acquisition strategy, favoring expensive carriers over versatile and stealthy submarines like the Virginia-class, is criticized for not aligning with modern warfare needs. This approach risks the Navy's ability to counter A2/AD strategies effectively and calls for a shift in priorities towards more relevant and cost-effective platforms and technologies.
 

Submarines vs. Aircraft Carriers: Adapting US Naval Strategy for Modern Threats
The US Navy is in a real crisis and they might not even realize it. Having spent decades obsessed with the aircraft carrier, the Navy appears to not have internalized the fact that America’s foes were developing capabilities to stunt the Navy’s power projection capabilities into the backyards of their rivals.

This has been especially true with China, which probably leads the world in what we know as “anti-access/area-denial” (A2/AD) capabilities. Russia, Iran, and North Korea are likely right behind China with their A2/AD systems, too.


What this means is that the Navy has no choice but to fundamentally rethink its entire force posture and the way that it fights. No longer able to move its assets within physical range of potential targets, the Navy needs to learn to leverage stealth, submersibles, directed energy weapons (DEW), drones, and hypersonic weapons together into one seamless strike package; a sort of pin to pierce the bubble that A2/AD systems create around the regions they are deployed to.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/us-navy-needs-stop-building-aircraft-carriers-210005

[rangerrebew]

I have said since I was in the Navy in the 70s that carriers are becoming albatrosses.  I remember being in Singapore over the 4th of July, 1976.  Why were we there?  Americans in Singapore wanted a show of US military strength, and carriers seem to fit the bill.  If the Navy could keep them operational, a massive fleet of subs would make the rest of the world edgy wondering where they were.  I'm sure someday technology will be developed to spot them wherever they are so someday that edge will be lost too.

[Fishrrman]

Eventually, the only ways to fight and win an existential war may become:

- through space-based satellites with energy-directed weapons that can hit anywhere below

- using nuclear weapons (either limited or all-out)

- overwhelming ground forces (winning the old-fashioned way)

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Eventually, the only ways to fight and win an existential war may become:

- through space-based satellites with energy-directed weapons that can hit anywhere below

- using nuclear weapons (either limited or all-out)

- overwhelming ground forces (winning the old-fashioned way)

Or mass drones seems to be making a difference in Ukraine.