The Era of the Aircraft Carrier Is About to End

Harry Kazianis

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For the better part of a century, nothing has projected American power more effectively than the aircraft carrier.

A 100,000-ton behemoth of sovereign U.S. territory, capable of launching a more powerful air force than most nations possess, the supercarrier has been the undisputed king of the seas.

It is the centerpiece of our naval strategy, the first asset sent to any global crisis, and the ultimate symbol of our military might.

The Aircraft Carrier Era Is Over

But what if the king is now vulnerable?

What if a weapon exists that can turn our most powerful asset into our most catastrophic liability?

Take it from me: that weapon is no longer theoretical.

China’s development and deployment of advanced anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), specifically the DF-21D and the longer-range DF-26B, represents the most significant threat to U.S. naval supremacy since the Cold War.

These are not just another class of missile; they are a revolutionary capability designed for a single purpose: to hold American aircraft carriers at risk and push them out of the Western Pacific. To understand their impact is to understand the daunting new reality of a potential U.S.-China conflict.

To grasp why these missiles are such a game-changer, you have to understand how they differ from traditional anti-ship weapons. For decades, the primary threat to a carrier was from cruise missiles or submarines. While dangerous, these were threats the Navy’s layered defense systems were designed to counter. A cruise missile flies low and relatively slow, giving a carrier strike group’s Aegis cruisers and destroyers a chance to detect, track, and shoot it down.