Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Aircraft Carriers Obsolete

The Chinese are developing a new weapon that is causing concern:

The U.S. Naval Institute, a pro-military organization, notes that a post on a Chinese blog considered credible by military analysts provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile that could hit U.S. ships from about 1,240 miles.

A senior U.S. Navy official at the Pentagon confirmed to FOX News that such a weapon is a tangible threat from China, but it isn't a new threat. And the U.S. Navy has systems, such as the Aegis missile defense system, that can counter the threat posed by the Chinese missile.

The size of the missile, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, allows a warhead large enough to inflict significant damage on an American super carrier in a single strike, and it raises the chances of evading tracking systems and reaching its moving target unscathed in less than 12 minutes.

I'm not an expert but surely carriers have been obsolete since the development of accurate ballistic missiles in the 60's? They have their use when fighting third world countries like North Vietnam, Panama and Iraq. However, if World War III had have broken out against the Soviets, they would've been sunk within hours. Similar to battleships that were left over from World War I, that were not suited to battle aircraft carriers in World War II.

Anyway, what's the worry? The Chinese are the biggest shareholders in USA Corp., and want to protect their investment.

1 comment:

  1. Perhaps as soon as the 1950s, and the dawn of the atomic submarine. Nuclear attack boats consistently pierce the anti-sub screen of carrier groups in wargames. The U-boats gave the surface ships much grief in the world wars, even when it spent most of the time on the surface, and couldn't fire missiles, as today, able to cruise hundreds of miles.

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