US vs China Aircraft Carriers.

The US has the most expensive and advanced carrier fleet, and China is investing to catch up. These are crucial to modern warfare and may be crucial in a US-China conflict. Do they justify this cost? They matter why? My name is Sam Fellman. I'm a US Navy veteran and Business Insider defense editor. USS Nimitz was my ship. The US has 11 airlines. The majority are Nimitz-class carriers. One new class exists and two are being constructed. The Gerald R. Ford. The Ford is one of the most expensive ships ever. The cost is $13 billion. That embodies America and the troops like nothing else. The Ford is special because it has untested transformational leap-ahead technologies, which delayed ship deployment. Ford is running.

China has the largest navy. They are building 400 battle-force ships, including carriers. First up is the Liaoning aircraft carrier. After buying it for $20 million, China refurbished this Soviet-built aircraft carrier to make it operational. It has helped China learn carrier air operation. Shandong is their second aircraft carrier. The first Chinese-built carrier. Its production cost is estimated at billions. It is a modified Soviet design like the Liaoning. Fujian will be China's third carrier. This is likely China's first modern aircraft carrier. It's in development. I suppose sea trials are underway.

Similar to the Liaoning, Nimitz-class carriers have nuclear power reactors. It has two benefits over Chinese ship steam-powered systems. It increases power. Second, it stores more gasoline. Second, compare the carriers' catapult systems. Catapults are essentially steam-powered shuttles that move along flight deck ribbons. Four for a Nimitz-class carrier. The technique can get an F/A-18 Super Hornet to 150 mph in around 1.5–2 seconds at the end of a carrier deck. The two active Chinese aircraft carriers have upturned ski-slope bows. The plane gets more lift when it takes off on its own. It won't be as fast or powerful as catapult-assisted takeoff. Gerald R. Ford is unique.

The first super carrier in the US Navy's new class. Larger flight deck. Its superior radar and elevators transport bombs and armaments to the flight deck faster and more efficiently. It has superior catapults and arresting gears. It completely changes the carrier force. Its main benefit is increasing sortie generation. How quickly and how many fighters, early-warning, and electronic-attack aircraft can a carrier launch? Ford aircraft carriers generate 33% more sorties than Nimitz-class carriers. The Ford can instantly mass more weapons from its deck than any other ship. The Fujian is steam-powered. It'll never match Ford's combat power, therefore it's two generations behind.

China considers itself a maritime nation like the US. Modern carriers have catapult systems, and China has long studied, imitated, copycatted, and stolen US technology. The carrier embodies American strength. It can hold 70 planes and is a floating nuclear power plant and airport. E-2C Hawkeyes, floating early-warning planes, and EA-G Growlers, electronic attack planes. This is naval power's Swiss army knife. It has several functions. It works well against adversaries with outdated air defenses and navies. Strike group decisions are made on the aircraft carrier. The strike group commander, their staff, destroyer squadron commander, air wing, which has many squadrons, and aircraft carrier department heads make strike group operations choices there. It's where the most powerful people and their staffs are. My ship was the USS Nimitz.

As a lieutenant, I drove and navigated the Nimitz and participated in many operations. I served on the Nimitz in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Ford will give a new experience. Ford teams are crafting a mission legacy. I was on the 1970s-commissioned Nimitz. I was fortunate to join its long combat record. Now, early Ford teams are forging that legacy. After World War II, the US was a carrier-power nation, hence it had more air carriers than China. Every major war and numerous US crises have involved carrier aviation. Carrier is vital to American power. It wants 11 carriers worldwide to deter enemies and reassure allies. China and the US have different Asia Pacific goals. Its extensive South China Sea claims have been debunked. It may try to force neighbors and a distant rival like the US to bow to it with increased power. Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, is likewise its target.

In Asia Pacific maritime disputes, Chinese aircraft carrier force could be used to achieve its goals, and the US may deploy its carrier force to fight that. Other systems can now threaten the carrier versus a skilled opponent. The aircraft carrier is great for projecting strength against an enemy without a strong navy or standoff weapons to hold it at bay. If a carrier is observed, radar-identified, or its electronic emissions are detected, a long-range missile can target it. China has long-range missiles that can threaten carriers 2,000 miles distant. China doesn't require an aircraft carrier to threaten an American one, so it won't play a first-wave role in a US-China shooting war. That may fall to stealthier assets than an American aircraft carrier or its fourth-generation aircraft.

China has only learned and synchronized carrier operations for a decade. Will the Fujian match the Gerald R. Ford? No. The Gerald R. Ford is unique worldwide. China has two carriers in production, like the US. Building each ship is a significant expense, thus I don't think China will have a carrier force like the US soon. They may not need that. If future US wars are like recent ones, the carrier will remain vital. If the US Navy faces a more sophisticated opponent that can hold the carrier at bay, submarines and stealth-attack planes will play increasingly prominent roles. Second- or third-wave cleaning will be the aircraft carrier's task.