Sink The Carriers!

So says Naval Postgraduate School professor John Arquilla:

Over the next few decades the Pentagon is planning to spend more than $50 billion on its Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers. The first of these 100,000-ton ships is due for completion in 2015, with others following as vessels in the existing 12-carrier fleet are retired. Since aircraft carriers are near helpless without a protective ring of about ten destroyers, frigates and cruisers, the military wants to invest in newer versions of these, too, at a cost of an additional $50 billion.

This plan constitutes a huge waste of taxpayer money and exemplifies the Defense Department's fixation on preserving legacy systems designed for a kind of war that the U.S. is likely never to fight again.

Arquilla's three big arguments are the supercarriers are too vulnerable, do too little for today's conflicts and America will never again see a conflict where they have utility. And I must say, I agree with him on two out of three points. Today's supercarriers are too vulnerable and aren't flexible enough, but whether we will ever need one again depends entirely on what China and Russia do over the next decade or two.

So, I say, line some out in the budget and draw down the inventory of supercarriers to around five from the current requirement of twelve. Then replace the other seven with smaller, more flexible platforms that trade some capability as offshore strike platforms for some expeditionary capability.

Thoughts?