Reuters
Richard A. Bitzinger, Asia Times: The aircraft carrier: The weapon that refuses to go under
The aircraft carrier is the weapon whose obituary is constantly being written, but which also refuses to die. Twenty years ago, during the height of the “revolution in military affairs” craze, the aircraft carrier was written off as a dinosaur.
In a projected future where warfare was all about being small, stealthy, and fast, an 80,000-ton carrier was seen as too big and too cumbersome, while its function could be replaced by missiles and precision-guided weapons. Moreover, aircraft carriers were considered to be just “cruise missile magnets” — modern-day cannon fodder in the new 21st-century battlespace.
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WNU Editor: China has just started building their 3rd aircraft carrier .... China Has Started To Build Its Third Aircraft Carrier (January 5, 2018)
3 comments:
So funny.
Everyone last year was like "oh no America so stupid why they build aircraft carriers still" and "Chinese much smarter they don't build aircraft carriers"
One year later
"Aircraft carriers in vogue in Asia"
"China building 3rd aircraft carrier"
Carriers are necessary to project military power across the ocean, and the Chinese know this
Anonymous,
I don't know about "everyone" saying America was/is "stupid" to build aircraft carriers. I can speak for what I have said. Aircraft carriers will only be effective against countries who either do not have a Navy or their Navy is very, very weak. Against anyone else these vessels are floating death traps and have no utility. The main threats to America are as follows: 1.)an all out nuclear attack by Russia, 2.)an Islamic terrorist attack involving the use of multiple suitcase nuclear weapons and likely other so called "dirty bombs detonated simultaneously across multiple metropolitan area, and 3.)an invasion of the US mainland by Russia, China, Russia and China, or Russia, China, and some combination of their allies. In none of these scenarios are aircraft carriers useful. In fact, building and maintaining them draws resources away from where they are needed.
Against any of the major adversaries we might face Russia, China, North Korea or Iran just to name the most likely aircraft carriers will need to be positioned to far away from the combat zone to be effective. Trying to bring them into the combat zone would very quickly mean their destruction and the loss of the crews and the aircraft.
Does the construction of an aircraft carrier make sense for China? Perhaps it does. There main potential adversaries seem to be America and those nations in the surrounding area such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam just to name a few. These countries are not as advanced militarily as nations like North Korea and Iran. Also, the US lags behind in anti-ship weapons. As such, the building of an aircraft carrier may make some sense for China whereas it does not for the United States.
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