Chinese artist’s conception of a PLA anti-ship ballistic missile attack on three USN CVNs.
Asia Times: The US Navy’s real China challenge: An anti-access ‘swarm’ strike
The United States Navy seems under siege from all sides when it comes to its inability to project power in Asia — thanks largely to the People’s Republic of China’s investment in various anti-ship weapons platforms.
Considering the challenge presented by China today, while not even factoring in the daunting nature of future threats that seem just over the horizon, US naval planners seem to have their work cut out for them.
Take for instance the most obvious example: the threat such weapons pose to America’s mighty aircraft carrier. The carrier is the very symbol of Washington’s power and influence around the world. Unfortunately, the US “flattop” seems to be under constant attack time and time again in article after article, report after report, for their inability to counter the growing threat of anti-ship weapons that can be launched from land, sea and air by Beijing.
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WNU Editor: This is going to be a difficult challenge for the U.S. to overcome. U.S. aircraft carriers go for $13 billion a copy .... Chinese missiles go for a few million (tops) .... their smaller but lethal attack boats a few million, etc. .... in a war of attrition .... especially in the Asian theatre and at the beginning of any conflict .... the U.S. will probably find itself at a serious disadvantage.
I can't cite it but back in the JFK years apparently the Soviets bragged that they could shoot an incoming fly down right out of the air. JFK responded with 'we could too but the question is which fly do you shoot down?'
ReplyDeleteThe US Navy now knows that getting anywhere near China, in the China Seas, is getting increasingly dangerous requiring a new look, and a reappraisal of the long historic western ownership of these waters.
ReplyDeleteWhy should the US Navy care? Because if they can't control any part of the "global commons" that means the US is no longer a full global hegemon. The armor has been pierced, and the image is hurt. If one country could make America back off, then what's to stop others?
So they put the "freedom of navigation" up as a cover story, as if China would be against it. Actually China has an active anti-piracy effort, even in the western Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden, although China doesn't cooperate with the US and its allies because that would mean using the US communications net and accepting US leadership.
China is the second largest oil importer in the world, so it has to secure its supply lines. Meanwhile it just ran a fast train to Tehran in half the time a ship would require. That's the future, fast trains to the Middle East and northern Europe, avoiding the US Navy. China already has a vast high-speed rail network. The US? Still looking for the first one, fifty years after Japan (and others) pioneered them.