The Navy’s Big Carrier Groups Are Sitting Ducks

Highlights (abridged):

  It is virtually impossible for our top Navy brass to admit that we have spent so much on carrier fleets that are now obsolete.
  The Chinese have developed an antiship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, nicknamed the ‘carrier killer.’ It has a range of 1,200 miles and can fly at speeds higher than Mach 5. During descent to the target, it can fly at Mach 10. We have no missile-defense systems that can counter the DF-21D. 
  Rather than building more of the same, our Navy should transition to submarines that can launch drones and to small, fast boats that can launch torpedoes and missiles.
  Col. Colin Meyer, USA (Ret.)

This logic seems a little flimsy. A ship-killer doesn't obsolete ships any more than nuclear weapons have obsoleted armies. In practice these weapons are available but not deployed, or the enemy being fought doesn't have them. The US is typically deploying military capability to threaten or invade much smaller countries, so advanced countries having things like ship-killers or nukes are less relevant to the continued usefulness of conventional weapons.

Even without this new Chinese missile, the amount spent on US carrier groups is insane. They're something like $15 billion each to build, and that doesn't even include the cost of the aircraft. We used to have 11, while our nearest competitor - France I think - had 2. For some reason we recently decided that we needed a 12th.

Keep spendin' dem billions, Boss!

Every dollar spent on obsolete carrier groups is a dollar that could be better employed elsewhere.

Back in 1941 the carrier obsoleted the battleship. The trouble was it took the actual loss of many battleships in many navies for the lesson to sink home. Today the carrier has been obsoleted by missile technology. Again, it will take the loss of many carriers before that lesson finally sinks home.

This discussion has been occurring for the past decade:

https://www.investors.com/news/aircraft-carriers-more-sinkab...

With no carriers naval aviation will end up being little drones and stuff launched from subs, pretty soon you don't have any naval aviators and there goes half the navy's budget so the admirals will never get rid of the carriers.

The Navy wants to downsize, but there are a lot of corrupt congressfolk that want to keep the gravy train running and refuse to allow decommissioning