Is It Time For America To Give Up Its Aircraft Carriers?

November 1, 2020 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: MilitaryTechnologyWeaponsWarPentagon

Is It Time For America To Give Up Its Aircraft Carriers?

The U.S. Navy is unquestionably the most powerful in the world today in the aggregate.

Yet, the Navy projects into the future a force structure that really is an updated version of what fought in the Pacific in the 1940s, and which was really untested in the Cold War. The alternative force structure hinted at here would equip the Navy possibly for the next 30 to 40 years.

Projected advances in sensor technology, as Greenert noted, will “make stealth difficult to maintain above and below water.” So, too, will the increasing range and precision of hypersonic weapons and the disabling stealth of deniable cyber-attacks. At that point, going into the 2050s and 2060s yet a different force structure and battle concept will be required.

One thing is certain, however. The aircraft carrier will not be the relevant weapon in the second half of the century. Continued overinvestment in them only ensures that the nations and possibly non-state groups that understand the future will be the ones that control the waves.

This article by David W. Wise first appeared back in 2015. 

Image: Flickr.