Many defense experts believe that China has the ability to not only target US aircraft carriers but also neutralize them. Can they?
The aircraft of the world’s strongest air force often seems like an easy target for the enemy anti-ship missiles, but the US Navy has different thoughts on this.
- But is the US Navy thinking straight by showing such confidence against the danger China possess for their aircrafts carriers?
- One reason for this easiness is the heavy investment in new technologies aimed at bolstering the defenses of carrier strike groups.
- The experts who know navy inside out are pretty sure that China would have a very hard time tracking the carriers in the millions of square miles of the open ocean.
- The reconnaissance satellites would not come handy here to locate the carrier since Beijing is nowhere near to be able to establish three parallel north-south tracks in the lower orbit of the earth, which is a must in case of these satellites to help in this cause.
- And since the US carrier strike groups maintain a dense defensive perimeter in the air around their locations, no Chinese aircraft is likely to get close enough to a carrier to establish a sustained target track.
“we’re less vulnerable now than we have been since and including World War II.”
Admiral John Richardson, the outgoing Chief of Naval Operations of US Navy
- The process which involves tracking, penetration and assessment of damage on an enemy ship is called kill chain and if any “link” in the chain fails the whole process breaks down.
- So, China does have a great anti-ship armory, but it still is nowhere near to complete the complex kill chain by engaging a U.S. aircraft carrier.
