Lately we’ve been focusing on threats to security and global hot
spots. And that means the week would be incomplete without a discussion
of China’s so-called “carrier killer.”
You see, China has developed a missile that travels at Mach 10 and is
intended to stymie America’s ability to forward project her naval
forces around the globe. The carrier killer is part of the latest
strategic thinking in China’s anti-access area-denial, or A2-AD,
strategy.
Whenever the United States senses a threat, it sends a flotilla of
ships to the area. The navy typically deploys a Carrier Strike Group
(CSG) consisting of one aircraft carrier, one guided missile cruiser
(for air defense), two Light Airborne Multipurpose System (LAMPS)
capable warships, and one or two anti-submarine destroyers or frigates.
The aircraft carrier basically functions as a fully movable airfield.
With an entire air wing on board, it can use the advanced fighters to
project force thousands of miles inland from nearly any body of water.
But the carrier killer, officially known as the Dong Feng 21D
(DF-21D), changes all of that. This ground-based missile is intended to
thwart all of the United States’ current missile defenses.
Unfortunately for us, the DF-21D would threaten a U.S. carrier battle
group while on its way to a region… and long before it was ever in
position to fight.
Bats to the Rescue
So how can the United States possibly combat such a strategy?
This is where bats come into play. A company called Prime Solutions
Group, in Goodyear, Arizona, is building models for the Missile Defense
Agency based on the echolocation system employed by bats.
Using mathematical models of a group of bats flying into a swarm of
mosquitoes, this firm is building algorithms that deal with the
probabilities of incoming ballistic missiles.
Intelligent agents scan the sky for objects of interest and then
interact with each other, sharing the data they’ve gathered. The
combined data allows the defensive agents to converge on the missile
just like a swarm of bats converging on their prey.
This technology is critical to the future of the U.S. military.
Without it, the United States would be denied access to certain critical
theaters and would likely be faced with the prospect of mass
casualties.
And that’s the very last thing any American wants. Our sailors and
Marines are an extraordinary group of young people. Several years ago, I
was flown to and landed on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, one of
our modern carriers based out of San Diego, California. I spent 24 hours
with the young sailors and Marines on board.
They deal with multi-billion-dollar weapons systems and aircraft with
incredible ease. To watch jet aircraft land on a carrier at night in
almost complete darkness is beyond amazing.
The aircraft carrier has become the symbol of American power across
the continents. Our enemies fear them and our allies welcome them. But
without focused and original thinking, they will be relegated to the
history books by China’s newest missile.
And this is just one of many challenges facing America today. We live
in a changing and dangerous world. The question most prevalent in my
mind is: Are the leaders in the Capitol up to the task of protecting and
enhancing our military capabilities going forward? As Always The Plain Truth!
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