Supercarrier October

There is a growing realization by many that the U.S. Supercarrier is no longer the decisive military advantage it once was. Now, more analysts are coming down on the side that claims the supercarrier’s days are gone or soon will be.

The rise of drones and supersonic missiles alone have significantly raised the price of carrier defense. The question is this, if the supercarrier era is in the fall of its reign, how far away is its winter? And what does that mean for U.S. power going forward?

Say Goodbye to the U.S. Navy’s Aircraft Carriers – National Security Journal
News Source

EXCERPT:

Some analysts have finally accepted that the aircraft carrier, under current strategic conditions, is nowhere near as useful as it once was. So, those analysts are arguing the United States should build smaller, non-nuclear carriers instead.

Certainly, that’s a step in the right direction. Non-nuclear carriers, at least on paper, are easier to maintain and build. They’re also cheaper than the nuclear-powered systems that have become ubiquitous in America’s fleet.

The US Navy could more reliably expand its carrier fleet if these cheaper, less complex systems became viable alternatives to its current nuclear-powered platforms. Plus, losing these systems in combat would not be anywhere near as big of a problem for the US Navy as losing one of America’s iconic nuclear-powered supercarriers would be….

America has made aircraft carriers, especially nuclear-powered supercarriers, the centerpiece of its naval power projection. Yet, these systems are increasingly obsolete, thanks to the advent of A2/AD.

Building a conventional, smaller aircraft carrier to augment its surface warfare force is not the best path forward. The better way is for the Navy to build small, nuclear-powered drone motherships. These systems would be cheaper, easier to maintain, and more relevant to the modern battlefield than anything that the Navy is currently designing.