![]() It's a versatility unmatched by any other ship.Īs aviation technology marches on, much of it makes its way onto carrier flight decks. Carriers can launch nuclear weapons, sink submarines, destroy enemy fleets, and bring relief supplies to disaster-stricken zones. The aircraft carrier's greatest strength, which has allowed it to remain relevant for the last 70 years, is the fact that it carries airplanes - and airplanes can be adapted to a wide variety of missions. ![]() The aircraft carrier is indeed embattled. All in all, the Ford's carrier battle group will easily cost somewhere around $30 billion. That doesn't include the $6 billion cost of the aircraft that will fly off it and a similar cost for the destroyers, cruisers, and supply ships that will sail with a typical carrier battle group. Ford, cost a whopping $17.5 billion to research, develop, and produce. There are also those that say aircraft carriers have grown too expensive. The DF-26 and weapons like them are notoriously hard to shoot down. ![]() Launched from bases in China, the DF-26 was designed to attack aircraft carriers, plunging through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds and punching through their steel decks. China is pursuing so-called "anti-access, area denial" technologies that it hopes will make large parts of the Pacific too dangerous for aircraft carriers.Ĭhief among these is a network of sensors and bases, capped off with the Dong Feng-26 "carrier killer" ballistic missile. Every major weapons system becomes obsolete over time and just as the carrier took over from the battleship, technological advances have made these ships obsolete, some pundits say. Still, all is not well in the world of aircraft carriers. They are, in fact, a capability no other country can currently equal. Each carries approximately 70 aircraft capable of bringing more firepower than the armed forces of entire countries. Most alarmingly, the navy has mobilized some of the civilian transport vessels the Chinese military would depend on to carry potentially hundreds of thousands of invading troops.A symbol of American military primacy since the end of World War II, there are currently 10 aircraft carriers serving with the U.S. The Chinese navy this summer has escalated its preparations for a possible assault across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s independence is the norm at stake. “There is no better aviation platform to support 7th Fleet’s mission to ensure the United States can freely operate wherever and whenever it must, in alignment with international norms, standards, rules and laws.” Richard LeBron, commodore of America’s Amphibious Squadron 11. The F-35 is the most obvious symbol of the group’s destructive potential. The flattops’ dozen or so escorts and several attached submarines add hundreds of long-range missiles, including potentially scores of land-attack cruise missiles, to the mix. A three-deck carrier group with nearly 80 fast jets, half of them stealthy. That’s up to 38 F-35s plus another 40 or so F-18s. The flattop also embarks around three dozen F/A-18E/F fighters and six EA-18G electronic-attack jets.Īdd it up. Navy’s 10 supercarriers to sail with an F-35C squadron, 10 jets strong. It’s not clear how many are aboard America right now. The Japan-based F-35B squadron that embarks on America has 10 jets. The Chinese navy at present deploys just two flattops-both similar to Queen Elizabeth in size and capability. Together, the three carriers and their escorts possess more firepower than the entire fleets of most countries. Twitter-user tracked the 1,092-foot Vinson, not by looking for the carrier herself, but by noting the radio transponder belonging to one of the flattop’s CMV-22B supply tiltrotors. The San Diego-based, nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Carl Vinson, carrying a squadron of catapult-launched F-35Cs, approached America and Queen Elizabeth from the east on Wednesday.
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