The drone/cruise missile/ballistic missile fight a day or so ago has me wondering.
At what point does warship magazine management become such a major issue that we dedicate Burkes only to the air defense mission?
I personally think we're already there.
I mean think about it. I the recent engagement you had tactical aircraft participate in the fight.
We all know the history of the US Navy when it comes to getting ships to sea. Gaps are gonna be there and carriers aren't gonna be everywhere we need them. The USAF might try hard but that forward deployed concept is dying a death. A nation already stated that we could not use their bases for operations. We were only engaging Iran. Imagine if its China! A whole slew of nations will bail out.
One Burke for simplicity sake has lets say 100 anti-air missiles. The Chinese could launch 200 drones (only drones) against every Burke we have. Add in the 5in gun and the CIWS and you get the point.
The Burke could easily run out of missile protecting itself much less the rest of the fleet.
Scale up the fight appropriately and before you start add in cruise /hypersonic and ballistic missiles and the point crystalizes.
Industrial warfare is here. Production is now king. Hyper precision was a luxury and its time is over.
So what happens if the Burkes become ONLY anti-air and lose their multi-mission capability?
If you demand to keep that multi-mission capability how do you manage the ships magazine of missiles?
Do arsenal ships finally make sense in this age of drone warfare?
One thing is certain. The type of warfare we're engaging in at the moment (things change rapidly) means that we need to get our industrial base up and at a wartime footing.
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