Posted on 08/06/2010 4:12:06 PM PDT by Kaslin
Military Superiority: By the end of the year, China could deploy an anti-ship missile capable of hitting U.S. aircraft carriers at long range. The naval dominance that American foreign policy depended on may be at an end.
When the naval planners of Imperial Japan were laying out the attack on Pearl Harbor, the major question on their mind was where are the American carriers? In the end, their failure to find them doomed Imperial Japan to defeat.
Since World War II, every president alerted to a crisis has asked the same question where are the carriers? These floating air bases the size of small towns were visible signs of American power, that we meant business and were able to project that power deep within a potential enemy's territory.
Now our naval supremacy is being challenged with the final testing and imminent deployment of the Dong Feng 21D, a land-based ballistic missile capable of traveling 10 times the speed of sound and hitting fast-moving and heavily-defended American carriers at a distance of 900 miles with deadly hull-penetrating warheads.
China is building its own carrier fleet, but it does not have to match us ship-for-ship with such a long-range carrier-killer. "China can reach out and hit the U.S. well before the U.S. can get close enough to the mainland to hit back," said Toshi Yoshihara, an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College.
Such carrier-killers "could have an enduring psychological effect on U.S. policymakers," Yoshihara told the Associated Press. "It underscores more broadly that the U.S. Navy no longer rules the waves as it has since the end of World War II."
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Like I said, this isn't my thing.
Thanks for your responses.
One reason, I believe that we made such a demonstration shooting down the dead satellite by the Lake Erie
There has not been one operational test...not one.
It presumes a long range recon, tracking, and ID capability, and a better ECM capability than the Chinese are known to possess.
In addition, it is supposedly a mid-range ballistic missile. Will not do much manuevering in terminal phase, and will not have much time to do it. The carrier will have moved good distances by the time the mmissile arrives.
Finally, as a ballistic misile it strikes at a part of the AEGI system that has been testd very successfully. We now have the BMD defense capability with AEGIS. They are striking at a strength of the most effective defensive system in the world.
I believe this missile is hype and is a Sung Tsu attempt by the Chinese to create a threat out of nothing while they are probably working on some other asymetrical weapon in the mean time.
Make no mistake, the Chinese Navy (PLAN) is developing rapidly into a threat...but this supposed system has never been seen...only talked about.
The major drawback of the 21D is its reliance on secondary assets for targeting information, primarily radar satellites. If you take out the satellites, you significantly degrade the system.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
(knock, knock)
Excuse me.
Has anyone possibly bothered to notice, it is our “free trade” dollars, financing this?
Just a reminder...
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this subjsct. This is what makes FR the best source of news in the world. Real time fact checking (and fact checking of the fact checking). One FReeper knows missiles and counter measures. Another FReeper knows about the spacing of letters on typewriters. No one FReeper knows it all, but between us all we come close.
Yawn,,,,,, 900 mile range? big whoop. If things were bad enough between us that this was a threat, the carriers would not be in range. However, in event of a “sucker punch” kind of engagement, The US response to a strike like this could be dicey. Do we go all in by turning loose the Tridents? ? Or convene a blue ribbon panel to determine why everthing is our fault. Only TheOne knows. God help us.
With the ‘one” in power, the attack would be debated to death and no action taken.
When I tried to link the original article from this post and another recent post of yours from IBD, the only text I get is just comments at IBD. I used to have no problems reading their editorials. Do you have any idea why I can't get the original article? I tried to register there, but I couldn't.
The AEGIS system no longer works because of Obama’s stripping from the Navy maintenance money so he can give the money to career racists and welfare bums. Read the Navy Times. It is a sad story of DDG-51s abd CG-47s that cannot use their weapons because they are rusted shut and cannot use AEGIS because it has fallen into disrepair.
Thanks to all for the info — I thought it sounded over-hyped but had no basis for knowing..... “interesting” how reporters could write an article on such a system and not do even the slightest pretense of research on the matter....
The competition, will be as always, development of shielding, and development of more powerful lasers. Nothing really changes over the centuries.
Don't believe me? Go do a search on SLAT and follow on supersonic sea skimming targets and see just how much the navy has had to practice against to prove defenses.........
Color me a pessimist at to the survivability or the supercarrier.........
Do any carrier battle groups include accompanying submaries? Just curious.
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