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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (77567)	6/14/2018 4:16:55 PM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 364934

We essentially have 20 carriers including the Gerald R. Ford which should be debugged at some point before we launch the next Ford class. As you note, China has one currently. It is a sister ship to the Kirov, which the Russians can't seem to keep running. They have two under construction, one a similar version to the one they already have and another, bigger one which might even be nuclear powered. And plans for lots more, though. By the end of the '20s they could have more than we do currently and building 2 or 3 a year instead of one every 3 or 4 years like we can. Of course, they have to learn to actually operate them effectively, something that is proving to be surprisingly difficult. Landing on a carrier is not easy. The Mobile Offshore Base concept has been studied by the Navy. Needless to say, the Navy hates them. I mean, helming an aircraft carrier is a whole lot more sexy than a glorified landbase. And a Nimitz class carrier is cheaper than the projected costs of a MOB. Besides, the Air Force could use a MOB and they can't land on a carrier, much less take off. That is a major consideration. Things are different than at the turn of the century though. For one, a Ford class carrier is running like twice the cost of a Nimitz. For another, China is converting those islands into bases. And we have no effective response. Finally, we have combat lasers now, albeit just starting the growth curve. The last is key. With current technology, a MOB is vulnerable to ballistic missiles. Unlike a carrier, it can't just hit the gas and be somewhere else at the rate of 30-something-classified knots. This last point is why both China and Russia are working so hard to develop and field hypersonic missiles. When those are effective, and both countries are just in their first generation and that point is questionable, the speed of a carrier isn't a slam dunk anymore. Might as well be stationary. And that gives a lot of advantages. Not only can you handle airplanes that aren't carrier specific, you have a lot more room. Room that you can stuff with nuclear reactors. Which can power a lot more lasers than a carrier ever will. Not to mention all kinds of radar. Granted, it would take a month or so to get on station, but once you are there, you have an instant base. Even China can't build out an equip an island in that amount of time. If China wants to extend their reach beyond the South China Sea, they will need something like a MOB.