Could Chinese Aircraft Carriers Survive US Navy Attacks?

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

WEAPONS AND TACTICS

We have certainly heard about US Navy carrier maritime warfare vulnerability and potential survivabililty in the face of Chinese anti-ship missile threats …. but what about the vulnerability of Chinese carriers? 

What do we really know about how vulnerable Chinese carriers are? We know the People’s Liberation Army – Navy is quickly building up its fleet of carriers, conducted dual-carrier operations and continued efforts to engineer a 5th-generation, carrier-launched stealth fighter.  Apart from their first carrier built in the former Soviet Union, China’s indigenous carriers likely draw from more advanced technology. However, just how evolved are their carrier defenses? Are they armed with lasers, interceptors or advanced EW? If so, how might those layered defenses compare with US carrier defenses? 

It is not likley that Chinese carriers would necessarily fare any better than US Navy ones, and a carrier’s survivability pertains heavily to the kinds of warships it surrounds itself with. 

There are near-term or immediate U.S. Navy threats Chinese carriers would face as well as mounting threats in coming years.

For instance, should the U.S. Navy succeed in arming its Zumwalt-class destroyers with hypersonic missiles by 2025 and continue rapid progress to mature and operationalize warship-fired laser weapons, its ability to destroy Chinese carriers will expand immeasurably in coming years.

AIR POWER

In a more immediate sense, three specific things come to mind as current or pressing US Navy weapons and tactics likely capable of destroying Chinese carriers.

Perhaps most of all, the U.S. Navy can massively project forward-positioned, 5th-generation maritime air power in a manner likely to overwhelm Chinese carrier defenses.