The Carrier
 

since this is the 100th anniversary of the aircraft carrier, we might want to take a pause and ask if this the twilight of the carrier as we know it...

what will the future hold?

Consider the range of our attack fighters and bombers against the locations of our forward air bases.

Answer, No....not in our lifetime.

Read the discussion of this very topic in the 1950's. Much of those issues, especially when it comes to current challenges, lead more to reliance on seapower and sustainablity of the carrier task force and expeditionary model that we now use. I don't see that threat changing in the near future. The carrier and its task force allow for the severing of forward bases, which are expensive.

I am thinking of the future need for manned planes. You can launch drones from much smaller platforms, including submarines.

Carriers make big target too...

What he said.

The air craft carrier is a portable base for our troupes... they can even be deployed to disaster zones to provide water and medical support.

If anything brick and mortar military bases that are targets for terrorist attacks will go away and we will see more carriers built to take their place.

Just IMHO

Twain wrote, depending on the source: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" or "the rumor of my demise have been greatly exaggerated".

Concerning the carrier, yes and yes.

Randy, go find the CONEMPS for UCLASS...small UAS' (and I am designing and testing one as we speak, one that goes with TACAIR and/or can be sub launched) are mere shadows of manned aircraft.

It is simply a projection of military power at virtually any point in the world. They are here to stay. Even the Chinese are building one.

When drones become big enough to handle the ordinance of our current strike force bombers or handle air to air combat they are going to be as large as the currently manned versions which will require larger platforms so again I say no.

With todays tech, the size of the ocean going target doesn't mean much any more and besides, that's what the carrier task force is for.....

I think submersible carriers would be even better and a far more frightening prospect against our enemies... Can you imagine being able to suddenly appear without warning in someone's waters and have a squadron of attack jets in the air before they knew what to make of it. Heh. Heh, heh...

I like the "Sky Captain" flying carriers!

No Cats, just taxi off the edge.:D

Paul, et al. - I'm thinking decades out, and expect we will have 'drones' that can outperform manned fighters. A big design constraint on the performance envelope is the need to limit the blackout period for the human in the can.

re size: they can be made smaller w/o a human inside - how small depends on ordnance, performance, dwell time and etc.

the big shift, underway already, is the idea that the "various abilities of the organism" can be shifted into separate bodies -- the eyes are in one package, the fist in another, the brain is in Nevada -- that will change everything as it continues

How resistant are drone radio links to jamming? To destruction of the satellite relay?

Anyway, it appears the British have a brand new aircraft carrier that we will be able to buy for cheap. Zero miles.

It will all depend on many factors. For example, but not limited to:

- Whether or not an adversary acquires the means to deny the carrier the ability to position itself at such a distance so as to permit it's aircraft to carry out their intended missions. If the carrier can't get close enough, what good would it then be for?

-Whether or not conflicts in the future permit time to allow a carrier to sail to the "hotspot". If the carrier can't get there fast enough, and the conflict is over or the damage is done, what good would it then be for?

-Whether or not another means to project force more efficiently, more cheaply, more quickly, and/or more securely becomes available. Naturally if it becomes possible to do the same job the carrier does but smaller, faster, cheaper, etc what good would it then be for?

So, how much longer will the carrier be useful, in it's current capacity/function? It would seem it's got 25 more years. Maybe.

This is one time that Tabs is completely correct on all points. You need carriers to project power into far corners of the globe. Nothing else can project power like a carrier. The Falklans war would never have happened if the Brits still had a full-sized carrier in their inventory. They fixed that problem. No major power will ever be without one again. China knows that they are not a world class navy until they have an Enterprise class carrier.

The death of the carrier has been reported for generations. It will be for generations to come, and the carrier will still be with us.

not if they are swarmed

Wasnt there a war game in 2002, set in the Persian Gulf, in which the USMC general commanding the opposition force of small boats and small aircraft managed to sink much of the US carrier group?

correct

they made a do-over however, and it was all just peachy keen then

Damn hard to launch a helicopter from a submarine.

Bring back the USS Macon!! Dirigibles, that's the answer. With a squadron of fighters in the hanger.

Very resistant but you thrown enough money at it and you can down one.