Russian, Chinese missiles keep US aircraft carriers away

Professor Dennis Etler, a scholar based in California, made the remarks reflecting on an article by Business Insider, which argues American aircraft carriers have become a “mystical symbol” of the US military prowess and Washington cannot afford to lose one.

The article warns that Russia and China have achieved missile technology that can cost the US “its next war” should it make the mistake of deploying aircraft carriers in the wrong place and wrong time.

The US currently Navy currently has 11 operational aircraft carriers. The nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carriers are 130ft above water and over 1,000ft in length, housing as many as 80 aircraft and up to 7,000 sailors.

Those numbers, while impressive, can also spell trouble and heavy damages once the warships sail too deep into enemy territories, where they are vulnerable to advanced anti-ship missiles.

The article warns that some of Russian and Chinese missiles have ranges “far beyond the furthest missile from the furthest-flying jet off a carrier’s deck.”

It is believed that a typical US carrier strike group can theoretically fight 450 missiles in one attack. However, Bryan Clarke, former US special assistant to the chief of naval operations, warns that China alone can launch 600 missiles in in an attack about 1,000 miles off their coast.

Etler said aircraft carrier had indeed became a tool for power projection around the world, more than anything else.

“The debate around the efficacy of the aircraft carrier as an instrument of war must be seen in light of their strategic and tactical utility,” he said in an email. “The US aircraft carrier fleet, like those being built by China and others, are meant to be strategic resources for the purpose of power projection, not tactical weapons to be used to fight an all-out war.”

The analyst noted that so far the US has mostly used its expensive carriers “in limited actions to support ground forces in far flung theaters of operation.”

Another key difference was the defensive military strategy of Russia and China versus the offensive mentality that shaped America’s military plans.

“While the US sees the aircraft carrier battle group as a means to project its power globally in pursuit of its role as the world’s gendarme, China and Russia have much more limited goals in mind, primarily to counter US hegemony and protect their regional national interests. In other words the US seeks to use its carrier fleet offensively while China and others are developing their carrier capacities primarily for defensive purposes,” he explained.

Arguing that the US has already used it naval might to project power near Chinese and Russian territories, Etler said both Beijing and Moscow were going to come up with their own responses to keep the US in check.

“In order to maintain their credibility as a strike force the US has to develop the means to counter Chinese and Russian missile deployments that threaten its carriers. Both China and Russia however will continue to develop the means to deter the US from using its aircraft carriers as a tactical weapon in any conflicts that may emerge between them,” he said.