Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Killing Carriers the Old Fashioned Way

While the Chinese DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile is the most talked about threat to American carriers approaching China, the bulk of the threat to our carriers will come from old fashioned aircraft firing long-range anti-ship missiles:

The Chinese Navy has converted its 2nd Bomber Division into a unit for its growing fleet of specialized aircraft. These include H-6 tankers, float planes, and several types of EW (Electronic Warfare) aircraft. Most of these aircraft are apparently for supporting the growing number of H-6 bombers armed with anti-ship missiles. Here, China is imitating a Russian tactic developed during the 1980s.

At least we are familiar with this type of threat.