Advances In Missile Technology Is Forcing The US Navy To Adopt New Ways To Use Its Aircraft Carriers

US Navy

Business Insider/Defense News: With China gunning for aircraft carriers, US Navy says it has to change how it fights

* Advances in offensive weaponry, namely Chinese long-range missiles, have stoked more debate about the viability of the aircraft carrier in future wars.
* But just because those threats are there doesn't mean the carriers are obsolete, the Navy's top uniformed official said this month.

WASHINGTON — Just because China might be able to hit US Navy aircraft carriers with long-range anti-ship missiles doesn't mean carriers are worthless, the service's top officer said December 5.

The chorus of doom and gloom over China's anti-access weapons is too simplistic, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said, but that doesn't mean the Navy should refrain from adjusting the way it fights.

"Let's look at this like a physics problem," Gilday proposed. "[People will say]: 'Hypersonics go really fast and they travel at long ranges. Carriers can only travel ['X' distance], so carriers are going to have to go away.' That's a very simplistic way to look at the problem.

"I've been in two big war games since I've been [CNO], and I absolutely believe that we have to wring more out of what we have today in terms of how we are going to fight with it."

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WNU Editor: China is not the only country that is focused on knocking out US aircraft carriers. Russia is rapidly installing missile systems that can do that now (see previous post) .... Russia's New Warships Will Soon Be Armed With Hypersonic Missiles.