In other words, the once majestic US aircraft carrier seems to have been a little cowardly in the past two years.
At that time in 1996, two US aircraft carriers dared to swing in the Taiwan Strait. But now is not what it used to be, in 2016, the South China Sea storm, the elite of the Chinese Navy and Air Force were ready to fight, and the two brothers of the American aircraft carrier did not dare to be tough and turned their heads to retreat. By 2023, the Type 055 destroyer "Nanchang" of our People's Liberation Army will be even more majestic and high-spirited, and it will be able to compete with American aircraft carriers single-handedly.
Because building an aircraft carrier is really too expensive! The cost of a Ford-class aircraft carrier is worth the annual military budget of a medium-sized country - $13 billion! Moreover, the aircraft carrier is not only a military tool, but also the "face responsibility" of the United States to sit firmly in the global hegemon, and it cannot be hurt or lost!
However, China has developed an anti-access area denial system, which has become a "tight spell" for US aircraft carriers. This set of advanced gameplay has created a set of aircraft carrier killer combinations**, so that the US Navy does not dare to get close. However, the Americans are not vegetarians, and the American media "National Interest" racked its brains to hold back two major tricks: the first move, I plan to use a more people-friendly "light aircraft carrier" - amphibious assault ship to consume our defensive firepower first, after all, a latest American-class amphibious assault ship will cost a quarter of the Ford-class aircraft carrier at most, and the cost performance is very low.
The second trick is to find a way to make their carrier-based aircraft "fly higher and farther". To put it bluntly, the aircraft carrier can play the role of a long-range airfield, and after releasing the carrier-based aircraft, it can find a corner cat on its own, and the fighter plane that has completed the mission will land nearby to rest at other US military bases, and then report back to the aircraft carrier. The key to this is the MQ-25 unmanned tanker, with which the US aircraft carrier can concentrate on attacking our fleet and landing force from a distance of 2,000 kilometers, without having to think about destroying our anti-access area denial combat system.
Although China's anti-aircraft carrier lineup is strong, the US aircraft carrier is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and both sides are fighting wits and courage to upgrade their equipment and stage a modern version"Aircraft carrier offensive and defensive warfare"。Therefore, the aircraft carrier is still a sweet treat, and whoever owns it will have the confidence and right to speak at sea.