Don't Sink My Battleship: 5 Ways to Defend a Supercarrier

Will America’s enemies be able to sink the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carriers? The answer is debatable, but it’s inarguable that potentially hostile nations are developing—and exporting—weapons for the task. And tactics are evolving: Think-tank researchers and military intelligence professionals follow Chinese military journals for the latest theories on stopping U.S. aircraft carriers. The Navy then incorporates new defenses to thwart these emerging threats.

By Noah Shachtman

Illustrations by Axel Pfaender

Published in the July 2009 issue.

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1. Avoid Decoys

	Decoy: The first step in killing a carrier is to confuse the escorts that protect it. The cheapest way to do this—decoys. Covert teams in fishing trawlers, for example, can drop buoys that are programmed to emit delayed radio signals to misdirect a carrier group’s defensive ships and aircraft.
	E-2C Hawkeye: To defeat decoys, carrier-launched surveillance airplanes with high-power radar can confirm the presence of approaching enemy ships and aircraft. As they gather fresh data from the air, Hawkeyes also direct warplanes and surface ships.

2. Destroy Drones

	Antiradar Drone: Unmanned aircraft can blind a carrier’s escort ships. The Harpy, a drone that Israel sold to China in 2004, circles an area, seeking radar signatures, which it then targets with a kamikaze attack. Without radar, escorts can’t find and shoot down antiship missiles.
	Arleigh Burke Destroyer: Engineers are upgrading destroyer sensors to spot multiple threats, including small ones like drones. A phased-array radar, which can track 100 targets at once, operates in the S-Band frequency range, allowing optimal performance in any weather conditions. The objective: Find and destroy drones before they can strike.

3. Spot the Sub

	Diesel Submarine: These quiet, lethal menaces can evade detection, especially in shallow water, and fire Sizzler missiles (a NATO designation) that skim the waves at supersonic speeds. Iran operates Russian-made diesel subs; Pakistan has purchased French-made Scorpions. China is the biggest enthusiast: It built 14 diesel subs in 2006 alone.
	SH-60 Seahawk: Helicopters deploy sensors called sonobuoys to detect acoustic, sonar, thermal or magnetic signatures of submerged submarines. Instead of dipping a sonobuoy into the water, expendable modern versions are dropped from helicopters like the Seahawk. Remotely operated boats are also used to drag arrays in search of enemy subs.

4. Air-to-Air Defense

	Su-30 Flanker: Russian-made airplanes have long been designed to attack carrier groups. The Su-30 can fire barrages of missiles to overwhelm an aircraft carrier’s defenses. In 2011 the Russians plan to export an upgraded version called the Super Flanker.
	F-35C Lightning II: When it comes to defending the airspace around a carrier, the F-35C is expected to carry the load for the Navy. The stealth airplane is made to kill foes before being seen. However, it is not an agile, cannon-equipped dogfighter like the F-18A Super Hornet, which it will replace in 2015.

5. Stop Missiles

	Antiship Ballistic Missile: By 2015 Chinese medium-range ASBMs may target carriers. Over-the-horizon radar could identify ships by bouncing signals off the ionosphere or by propagating signals over the ocean surface. Dong Feng 21 missiles are designed to use onboard radar to find carriers and close in at a high Mach speed.
	Aegis Cruiser: Ship-based ballistic-missile defenses have come a long way. Some Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers carry SM-2s that can shoot down inbound warheads in the final stages of flight. New SM-3s engage targets even earlier—in their midcourse stage.

• PLUS: How to Build a Supercarrier

• EARLIER: The New X-47B UAV Naval Defender

• DEFENSE: The Latest in U.S. Missile Defense

• ANALYSIS: 4 Challenges Presented by Underwater Drones

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