The U.S. Navy is the only warfighting organization in the world that operates a fleet of large-deck,
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
The 11 carriers funded by the fiscal 2020 defense budget aren’t just the centerpiece
of the Navy’s 300-ship force structure, they are the signature expression of American
military power.
No other warfighting system can accomplish what carriers can.
However, the warfighting features that make large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers
unique aren’t always readily apparent, because official descriptions of their functions tend
to focus on overarching missions like “forward presence” and “power projection.”
Obviously, other combat systems have a role to play in executing these missions.
There are some facets of warfighting, though, that only a carrier—a large-deck, nuclear-powered
one—can execute.
What follows is a compendium of ten key capabilities that make the Navy’s aircraft carriers indispensable
to deterring and winning wars.
The list is not exhaustive, but like the commentary I wrote last month describing ten reasons
why carriers are more survivable than other combat systems, it explains how having enough
of the right kind of carriers is essential to our security.
Survivable basing of forward air power The United States has vital interests in many
regions, but it doesn’t always have access to local bases.
Even when bases exist, their availability cannot be guaranteed in wartime.
For instance, China would likely target U.S. bases in the Western Pacific during the early
days of an East-West conflict.
Carriers provide a mobile, survivable alternative to land bases that can carry U.S. air power
within striking range of virtually any adversary.
Without large-deck, nuclear-powered carriers, critical military operations might not be
feasible in a timely fashion.
Freedom from host country constraints The U.S. has assembled a network of allies
in key regions to whom it would turn for assistance in the event of war.
But foreign partners don’t always see warfighting aims the way Washington does, so there are
limitations on how their bases can be used.
There may also be demands for payments or other compensation in return for using bases.
Aircraft carriers free U.S. forces from these constraints, because they do not require basing
rights in order to sustain air operations in a region.
The carrier is a base, and if it is nuclear-powered it can remain on station in a war zone for
months at a time.
Sustained strike operations against hostile countries
In the absence of local bases, the U.S. Air Force would have great difficulty sustaining
air operations against distant enemies.
Its strike fighters have limited range, its aerial refueling tankers are vulnerable, and
its heavy bomber fleet has dwindled to fewer than 200 aging aircraft.
Navy surface combatants and submarines could strike targets ashore, but in a major conflict
they might exhaust their stores of land-attack missiles quickly.
Navy carrier air wings, on the other hand, could precisely attack hundreds of land targets
every day for months at a time, rapidly eroding the will of most adversaries.
The new Ford class of nuclear-powered carriers can sustain up to 270 aircraft sorties per
day, and each of the four dozen strike fighters on board can attack multiple targets in a
single sortie.
Continuous air cover of forces ashore In the event that U.S. ground forces must
invade a hostile country, carrier-based air wings would be called upon to provide overhead
air protection.
This would consist not only of attacks against enemy aircraft and surface assets, but also
collection of reconnaissance vital to the ground forces.
Some of the air cover would likely be provided by Navy-Marine Corps amphibious warships hosting
F-35B fighters, but the preponderance of sea-based air power resides on carriers, and thus the
presence of one or more carrier air wings in a war zone could be essential to the survival
and success of U.S. forces going ashore.
Airborne early warning of potential threats Each carrier air wing includes a squadron
of E-2 Hawkeye radar planes that can detect and track scores of airborne threats at great
distance—not just manned aircraft, but cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and the
like.
Unlike the radars on naval surface combatants, the E-2 can look down on low-flying threats,
and is equipped to connect sensor data with the most effective interceptor systems through
a cooperative engagement network.
In combination with other defensive assets in a carrier strike group—fighters in the
air wing, combat systems on destroyers, etc.—carrier-based radar planes provide warfighters with unique
awareness of what is unfolding in a war zone.
Jamming of enemy radar and communications Another key feature of each carrier air wing
is the EA-18G Growler, the world’s most advanced electronic-warfare aircraft.
Growlers are designed to degrade, disrupt and destroy radar and communications using
both kinetic and non-kinetic means.
Because they share the same airframes and flight characteristics as the Navy’s leading
strike aircraft, they can easily escort those planes on missions and suppress defenses that
might impede the success of the mission.
Few adversaries can counter the Growler’s agility in seizing control of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
Broad-area offensive operations against hostile navies
Carrier-based strike aircraft aren’t just effective at attacking targets ashore and
defending friendly forces there.
They also can reach out hundreds of miles from the carrier in pursuit of hostile naval
forces, precisely identifying and destroying the other side’s warships and commercial
shipping.
Seahawk helicopters hosted on the carrier have a sophisticated capacity to detect and
attack both surface and undersea threats closer to the carrier.
In most contingencies, a carrier air wing and warfighting systems on other warships
in the carrier strike group would quickly sweep the seas of any hostile warships during
the early days of conflict.
Protection of naval forces and shipping at sea
The diverse warfighting capabilities of carrier air wings combined with the unlimited range
and speed of the carrier itself facilitates protection of friendly maritime assets, both
military and commercial.
For instance, an aircraft carrier might be called upon to help defend Marine Corps units
en route to an engagement, or to assure the safe passage of container ships through a
war zone.
The other warships in a carrier strike group, including submarines, can assist in this mission,
but the vast reach of carrier-based aircraft provides a unique dimension to the protection
of friendly forces at sea, just as it does on land.
Rapid response to remote military crises Aircraft carriers are intrinsically more flexible
and agile than Army or Air Force units in responding to overseas emergencies.
That is due partly to the basing issue, and partly to the complex logistics of moving
warfighting forces forward.
Even when regional bases are available, it takes time to deploy.
In contrast, sea-based forces are configured for self-sufficiency and typically operate
near likely trouble spots.
Among these sea-based forces, the aircraft carrier provides the most powerful and persistent
warfighting punch, often capable of directly influencing events within days after an emergency
arises.
With a sustained speed approaching 35 miles per hour, a nuclear-powered carrier can transport
its air wing over 700 miles every day.
Presence and persistence in support of deterrence Given all of the aforementioned capabilities,
large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers provide a formidable deterrent.
The arrival of the world’s biggest warship within striking range of an aggressor nation,
capable of destroying hundreds of targets precisely every day, inevitably focuses the
minds of leaders on the potential consequences of war.
Because the carrier is extremely well defended and always on the move, there is little hope
of defeating it with anything less powerful than a nuclear weapon, and that is an option
few enemies could or would entertain.
Keeping aircraft carriers forward deployed may be the single most important step U.S.
military planners can take to dissuade potential aggressors from initiating hostilities in
their regions.
The bottom line is that nothing keeps the peace like a large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier, and if war comes few combat systems can match the carrier’s ability to assure
victory.
That is why carriers are likely to remain the signature expression of America’s global
military reach and power for the foreseeable future.