USS Gerald Ford
Harry J. Kazianis, National Interest: The Most Expensive Warship Ever Built Might Already Be Close to Obsolete
The U.S. Navy’s latest and greatest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, when completed, will join the ranks of the world’s most advanced warships ever put to sea. It will carry an air wing with firepower second to none. It will be defended by some of the most powerful naval vessels on the planet. And yet, coming in at an astounding $15 billion dollars—the most expensive naval vessel ever—its time as the symbol of U.S. power projection and military dominance may be over.
Notice I used the words may be over. The simple fact is this: no one really knows for sure, but the trends all point to dangerous times ahead. We do know one thing with certainty—the mighty aircraft carrier is under siege, and without major changes to its capabilities, investing billions of scarce defense dollars seems a disastrous idea.
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WNU Editor: This is not the first time that I am reading a critique on the limited range that these aircraft carriers must operate in .... but what is unfortunate is that it appears that this is a critique that the US Navy has chosen to not even listen to.
5 comments:
No modern military leader would ignore this present danger to the CSG. What is different, must be different, is that use of deception now is more important than ever. With all the military espionage going on by our adversaries, we have finally learned to tone it down. And talk of our weaknesses, and with no bravado.
It's rocket science. Missiles are cheap, highly explosive, accurate, plentiful, relatively cheap and have a range many times that of aircraft. So aircraft carriers are obsolete. Everybody knows that, or should.
Aircraft carriers once replaced battleships for similar reasons, but that's history, so last century.
Carriers are obsolete. It s why Russia and china have their own.
Missiles have changed everything from anti tank to anti ship to anti air,the only thing that hasn't changed is the thinking of our so called leadership, they use these programs to curry favor in kickbacks and votes, so I don't see any rational policy coming from them anytime soon.
The thing is now I believe that the carrier is passing through the crisis of the battleships. They are powerful tool and symbol of power yet they are getting vunerable by the year, just like the battleships during WWII. High explosive missiles, drone revolution and swarm tactics, proxy conflicts, all show that the we are looking at the beginning of the coup against the hegemon that are aircraft carriers. But would I say they would be ousted like the battleships, unlikely. Aircraft carrier are still powerful in their own way, yet now we may not see them so often on the battlefront agaisnt strong enemies.
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