WILL GROUND-BASED HYPERSONIC MISSILES REPLACE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS?

摘要

A debate on the future of aircraft carriers is roiling the U.S. Department of Defense, and it is increasingly spilling out into the open. While the debate over the efficacy of carriers in high-end conflict is nothing new, a general understanding that the DoD will not have unlimited hinds with which to deter an increasingly potent China and Russia have made the questions particularly urgent. At issue is a choice about continuing to invest in aircraft carriers and the associated air wing - the mainstay of U.S. global power projection since World War Ⅱ - or to gradually reduce investment in those systems and increase investment in new capabilities such as long-range conventional hypersonic missiles.