Trump’s visit to USS George H.W. Bush reminds Beijing who commands the seas

The sighting of President Donald Trump on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush was a stark reminder that no one fears US aircraft carriers more than China.

Trump flew to the aircraft carrier sailing in the Atlantic as part of the Navy’s 250th Anniversary celebrations. He brought with him First Lady Melania Trump, who wore a stylish leather flight jacket and, more importantly, closed-toe, low-heeled shoes in accordance with Navy regulations for personnel on the flight deck. Together, they watched the firepower demonstration of F/A-18EF Superhornets, F-35C fighters and the strike group’s Aegis destroyers at the Navy’s Atlantic training range.

Later, Trump applauded aircraft carrier operations in his speech at the pier at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. “In the dead of night, they land screaming jets on firing decks with no room for error,” he said.

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Despite this praise, Trump’s visit actually marks a turnaround in the future of aircraft carriers. There is no doubt that Trump knows the value of aircraft carriers. In March, Trump paired two carriers, USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson, to strike more than 1,000 Houthi targets in Yemen. Trump said Sunday that Operation Rough Rider “directed American ire against Houthi terrorists in the Red Sea” and included “the largest airstrike ever launched from an American aircraft carrier.” Last week, the Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was in the Baltic Sea, eyeing Russia.

But carriers faced rough seas during Pentagon inspections after Trump took office. Trump’s team was shocked to see shipyard labor shortages and post-COVID supply chain issues delaying shipbuilding. Worse, Pentagon staff have raised doubts about the role aircraft carriers will play against China.

Here’s the summary. Aircraft carriers are lethal. Carriers have an important combat role in the Pacific because they are the only mobile air bases.

Of course, the Chinese want you to think that they can find, target, hit and sink an aircraft carrier with a handful of DF-26 or DF-21 missiles. True, China’s missiles can hit the Western Pacific and Guam. And the Chinese military built a life-size mock-up of a mock Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the Chinese desert for target practice.

But China’s chances of hitting a US aircraft carrier, let alone sinking it, are slim.

First, it is extremely difficult to find and hit a moving target from a long distance. Because American aircraft carriers operate on nuclear energy without refueling, they can move anywhere within a 700-mile radius in 30 minutes. This is a serious targeting problem for long-range firing Chinese missiles. Especially when US aircraft carriers use deception and electronic warfare tactics to confuse missiles.

As Trump saw on Sunday, aircraft carriers with strike groups are well protected against missile attacks. “I sail a mini Golden Dome every day,” an airman said recently. U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers carry an array of air defense missiles and can use satellites to track and shoot down maneuvering hypersonic missiles. Moreover, the new Ford-class carriers have enough power to carry laser weapons for close defense.

Additionally, since aircraft carriers have a double hull and multiple watertight compartments, it is almost impossible for them to sink. Do you want proof? Check out the Full Scale Shock Trials conducted aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford with 40,000 lbs. Underwater explosion with live ammunition at a distance of less than 75 meters from the carrier. China would need to fire 30 DF-21 missiles to equal that weight.

The Chinese will run out of missiles before the US aircraft carriers run out of tactics.

Upgrades are on the way. Next year, the carrier’s air wing will finally get “robot gas” thanks to the MQ-25 Stingray, an unmanned refueling aircraft that will add 500 miles of range to Navy fighter jets.

Even better, the Navy has a stealth long-range stealth fighter ready to unveil it for the carrier. Ten years in the making, the aircraft, which the Navy has dubbed “F/A-XX” for future “fighter strike,” has advanced engines that will increase range and lethality. Congress fully funded the plane, so everyone is just waiting for Secretary of War Hegseth, Deputy Secretary Stephen Feinberg, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to award this contract.

In the Pacific, a pair of carriers loaded with F/A-XXs and MQ-25s could attack targets 24/7 from 1,500 miles away.

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The firepower of the carriers is unbeatable. No wonder China has three ships at sea and is just embarking on a fourth: a replica of the Ford class with nuclear propulsion and an angled deck.

You see, high volume carrier air power requires an angled deck to launch and recover aircraft. Flat deck carriers, II. It was fine for the propeller-driven aircraft of World War II, but not for the jet age, as the Navy learned the hard way.

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“I landed on a flat-deck ship,” said Capt. Ed Grunwald, 98, a retired naval aviator from the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1950. “I had landed and was taxiing when my wingman’s jet failed to catch a wire, hit the crash barrier, bounced over and killed six sailors,” Grunwald said during one of his missions in the 1950s. Angled decks prevent these accidents because a “bolt” plane whose hook does not pinch one of the three trim wires can add strength and navigate safely.

Carrier agility is more vital than ever, and China’s Xi Jinping knows it.