It makes absolutely no sense to build ludicrously expensive assets like aircraft carriers that take ages to build and that can’t be replaced if lost or misson-killed in a war.
And the same goes for all the stuff that goes along with aircraft carriers such as carrier-based aircraft, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, missiles, ASW helicopters, etc. [ASW = Anti-Submarine Warfare]
Carrier groups would be ridiculously vulnerable in a war against China:
missilethreat.csis.org/…
Plus China could put Naval Base Guam out of operation. (As well as Kadena AFB and Andersen AFB.)
When it comes to a war with China, the only current western assets that remotely make any sense imo are subs, and B-21s because they can operate from the CONUS and because they’re stealthy. That said, I do have concerns about their survivability when egressing.
Imo it would make far more sense to invest in assets that would be much cheaper and so could be built in much larger numbers.
As a Brit, I think we should put the Taranis drone into large-scale production. It’s a stealthy intercontinental ISTAR drone that can also carry ordnance internally, which makes it a hybrid UCAV/ISTAR drone. Taranis would be ideal for the western Pacific. And eastern Europe too. If Taranis could carry SPEAR 3 and SPEAR-EW when they come into service then it would be a pretty damn impressive asset.
Stealthy Taranis drones (and ones with similar capability) could hit a wide range of targets:
- Ships at sea
- Ships & subs in port
- SAM radars/launchers
- EW systems
- Aircraft on the ground
- Mobile ground-based missile launchers (ballistic missile launchers, cruise missile launchers, anti-ship missile launchers)
Such drones wouldn’t be able to sink ships, but they could mission-kill them by hitting any combination of their radars, bridges, CIWS guns and ASW helicopters.
Such drones could also detect and hit mobile ground-based missile launchers far inside enemy territory that as far as I know isn’t currently possible.
And when it comes to other stuff that’s ludicrously expensive and vulnerable, that includes high-end aircraft, tanks, IFVs and APCs.
The US and its allies need to take a serious look at the current poor state of their militaries and fix them.