by Kris Osborn, Warrior

A cursory look at China’s fast-growing aircraft carrier fleet might lead many to determine that indeed the People’s Liberation Army - Navy poses an extremely serious and fast-growing threat. There is little question that that is the case, particularly given the fact that the PLA-N has already shown it can operate three carriers at sea at one time as its “Fujian” carrier surges toward operational service. Added to these concerns, the PLA-N is already making progress engineering a fourth “supercarrier” which appears as somewhat of a US Navy Ford-class copycat. 

The PLA-N Fujian has been undergoing sea trials and operated simultaneously at sea with China’s first two carriers, the Liaoning and indigenously-built Shandong; The Fujian operates with with US Ford-like electromagnetic catapult, and the PLA-N has also mirrored the US Navy’s tactics and conducted “dual-carrier” war preparation drills at sea.  The pace of China’s carrier construction, expedited by its very well known and often discussed civil-military fusion, leads many observers to anticipate a fast-approaching scenario wherein Chinese carriers truly rival the US Navy. 

Training & Experience Deficit

However, any advantage the PRC may have in the realm of high-speed carrier construction is likely “offset” or mitigated to a large degree by the US Navy’s decades-long “experience” operating carriers at sea. The US Navy has used aircraft carriers in maritime war since the World War I era and has more than 100 years of operational experience with floating runways and maritime air attack. In the modern era, the US Navy has operated a fleet of at least ten carriers for decades and used them with great success in a wide range of conflicts to include WWII, the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, among others.

Coordinating at-sea take-offs and landings and, in addition, operating a massive air attack campaign with an integrated Carrier Air Wing clearly presents a series of complexities not easily replicated by the PLA-N. Furthermore, the simple task of “landing” a fighter jet on a carrier decks is also known to be extremely difficult; pilots must account for the wind, sea-state and aircraft op-tempo to descend upon and land on a carrier with a safe and effective “glide slope.” Added to this advantage, the US Navy now operates both F/A-18s and F-35Cs with advanced software able to assist pilots with smooth, successful landings. Pilots follow a light or “ball” called the fresnel lens to align properly for a carrier deck landing, and pilot experience is now supplemented on F/A-18s with a glide-slope enhancing and stabilizing software known as "magic carpet.”  In a related capacity, the US Navy F-35C and US Marine Corps F-35B now operate with Delta Flight Path, a software designed to help automate and assist carrier landings. 

Perhaps most of all, there is the irreplaceable value of operational war experience, something which the PLA simply does not have. The US Navy now operates with generations of wartime-driven lessons learned in the realm of carrier warfare and has become extremely adept at networking Carrier Strike Groups together, coordinating weapons and sortie rates and learning how to sustain air campaign operations while under attack or facing adverse conditions. Therefore, while the PLA not only suffers a massive numbers deficit in the realm of carriers when compared to the US Navy, but also operates with a massive disadvantage in the realm of training and war experience. 

Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel.