Expect changes with US Navy ships as they will be modified to accommodate F-35 multi-role fighters in conjunction for more strike power as small or bigger flat top, reported in Defense News.
According to Former Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, there might be a need for smaller carriers with the threat of missiles that can knock out America's supercarriers. It is called Future Carrier 2030.
Before him, Richard Spencer was thinking of smaller carriers that are less of a target, than a hulking Nimitz or Ford-class aircraft carrier. Big carriers are risky of they get destroyed by an anti-ship missile from China or Russia, with loss of more personnel too.
The plan of Modly will be short-lived as Secretary James McPherson stopped the study for the meantime. Adherents in the Navy still prefer super aircraft carriers compared to smaller ones. There will be plans for big decks and the amphibious assault ships to work with the Marine Corp's F-35B. It is an F-35 that is a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant that can take off with less runway and can land vertically on less expansive decks featured in the Washington Post.
A first step has been taken with inking a $200 million contract that will upgrade the USS Boxer that is an amphibious assault ship. With mods to conduct operations with F-35 strike fighter, another of the heli-carriers will be a mini-aircraft carrier, and there are already fifty to be modified.
USS Boxer will get the modifications on the structure of the hull, propulsion systems, electric motor, auxiliary systems, communication package, and other combat systems, with relevant upgrades for handling the F-35 strike fighter, confirmed by the Naval Sea Systems command.
There's a resurgence of interest in smaller carriers that the navy is thinking of lately. Proof of this is last fall the amphibious assault ship America got packed with 13 F-35Bs which was a first since these ships used for helicopters, Navy Secretary Spencer said it could hold 20 F-35s. But packing in 13 F-35 is a feat in itself. Case in point, the USS America packed with F-35s give it an improve striking capacity, according to Breaking Defense.
According to Spencer, the idea of supplementing an aircraft carrier with such ideas like this lighting carrier is smaller and functional. A package of 20 F-35 Bs on amphib carriers is cost-effective. This is a good idea but it is nothing compared to larger carriers, says Sea Power Magazine.
USS Boxer is an older variant of a large deck amphibious assault ship. Placing 15 F-35Bs on the deck is possible, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Constructing light carriers is possible, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and that will not be off the agenda with lightning carriers as well, depending on the fiscal 21 budgets.
Esper added that smaller carriers might be in future designs, and smaller profile ships might be an option.
Carriers, big or small?
Lighter carriers have been far from US Navy designs for a long time because monster aircraft carriers can do more missions at less cost. Smaller carriers have fewer sorties and cost more to operate.
Recently, the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier got docked because of COVID-19, but the USS America waded in and pushed Chinese back in the South China Sea. This proved it can be useful when the big sticks are not available, according to Seth Cropsey.
Cropsey added that there should be a balance of big and small carriers that can survive Chinese missiles too.
Getting F-35s on a ship means more strike capacity and based on smaller carriers, it may deter Chinese missiles.
