China vs. Our Aircraft Carriers

Aircraft carriers have historically been vulnerable giants that could throw a punch but not take one. Even after SCB-125 modernization in the 1950s, WWII Essex class carriers had wooden flight decks with the first layer of armor at the hanger deck level.

While the generation of supercarriers beginning with the USS Forrestal incorporated many of the design lessons of earlier classes, aircraft carriers have continued to be floating bombs – packed with fuel, aircraft and ordinance that burn and explode merrily whether by accident or battle casualty.

Even though successive designs have been increasingly robust and survivable – and decommissioned carriers are sometimes used in simulated battle damage tests - in terms of all-important striking power, they are at the very center of the protective battlegroup.

And in response to more survivable and capable carriers, potential adversaries have not been idle in devising weapons in response. With so much striking power concentrated in a single ship, it’s not even necessary to sink the carrier – a ‘mission kill‘ will suffice.

Naturally, the Chinese have been working overtime to acquire the ability either to destroy our carriers or make sure they don’t forward deploy. In an article entitled ‘Naval Supremecy Without Ships‘, the folks at Strategy Page describe a program to modify the Chinese DF-21 ballistic missile into an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). The newer generation of the DF-21 reportedly incorporates reverse engineered terminal guidance technology from the US Pershing II missile that provided 30 meter targeting accuracy.

The way this weapon works is pretty simple. First you have to detect, and track, an American carrier at sea. This can be done with space or ground based radar, or electronic monitoring equipment. One could also do it with submarines (which would stalk the carriers, at a distance, and use satellite comm to send location updates back to China). Once you know where the carrier is, and where it is heading, you put that data into the navigation system of one or more ASBMs and launch. Less than half an hour later, the warhead is plunging earthward, and using its targeting sensors to detect the carrier below. Unless the carrier turned around and hauled ass at full speed about the time the ASBM was launched, the warhead will detect the carrier and hit it, while travelling at several times faster than a rifle bullet. If that doesn’t sink the carrier, it certainly puts it out of action for months.

Because this is a ballistic missile with re-entry vehicles moving at Mach 5, defense would be very difficult. Presumably, the navy could modify its Aegis system with the Standard SM-3 missile providing shoot down capability. The danger, of course, is that the enemy would saturate the battle group’s defenses in a combined attack.

I trust that our navy is thinking this through. We seem to have most of our offensive eggs in one glass-jawed basket at a time when the Chinese are developing the technology to achieve naval supremacy in the Western Pacific.

Tagged as: Aegis, aircraft carrier, ASBM, battlegroup, China, DF-21, Essex class, mission kill, Pershing II, Standard SM-3, Strategy Page