USA needs new "battleships" stronger than "Admiral Nakhimov": American expert on the breakthrough of naval defense
The need to overcome naval defenses to enter operational space requires the creation of a new class of ships that will become the reincarnation of battleships that have retired.
Anti-access zones problem
This opinion is voiced by the American expert on naval issues Robert Farley from the University of Kentucky. According to him, a powerful ship should appear that can win a naval battle on its own or be the core naval groups, and also be able to destroy ground targets, including opening the A2AD defense systems.
The so-called A2AD anti-access zones were first created on the Russian borders in Kaliningrad and Crimea, but the author discusses the need to break through a similar naval defense organized by China on the internal chain of islands around the country. According to him, ships are needed that can operate in this area, despite the threat of the use of ballistic and cruise (including hypersonic) anti-ship missiles - all of them are capable of destroying American aircraft carriers.
In this regard, the Pentagon demands an increase in the range of combat aircraft, bringing it to 1 km. However, China is also developing new missiles, increasing their range. According to the expert, this race will not necessarily end with a victory for the United States. Therefore, you need to look for other ways to break through the defense.
In his words, predecessors of a new class of ships already exist to some extent. For example, the Russian cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov", which, after modernization, will receive 174 vertical launchers, 80 of them for fighting surface targets and 94 for anti-aircraft purposes, is setting a kind of record.
Stronger than "Admiral Nakhimov"
In his words, in the final form, the new battleship should have a displacement of at least 30 thousand tons and be equipped with a nuclear power plant. About 300 MW of energy will provide a high speed - more than 30 knots are needed, which will allow it to leave the rocket fire zone for many kilometers. On the other hand, a lot of energy is required to power promising self-defense systems - lasers and microwave weapons... They will appear in the coming years, the expert assures, and will not need ammunition, only energy.
For passive defense, there is no need to install heavy armor historical battleships, since the hit of a hypersonic projectile will still disable any ship. It is enough to equip the pennant with a solid steel structure, relying mainly on missile launchers and a nuclear reactor for defense.
As a means of attack, it is proposed to use railguns and conventional missile systems for various purposes (air defense, anti-aircraft defense, anti-ship missiles, ground strike) - 300-400 VPUs.
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