The US may have to abandon the Ford-class super aircraft carrier to deal with Russia and China 1
The US should abandon the expensive Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier building program to focus on researching and manufacturing high-tech weapons such as lasers and electromagnetic cannons to more effectively deal with threats from Russia and China.
Two US aircraft carriers are on duty.
Three experts Jerry Hendrix, Paul Scharre and Elbridge Colby said that the US military is in a difficult situation.
The Pentagon has proposed a 2017 defense budget of up to 582.7 billion USD to meet the above requirement.
But CNAS experts say that the US Department of Defense must make many difficult decisions to make its policies effective, such as investing according to the `high – low coordination` strategy.
To accomplish this process, the US will have to cancel the program to build the Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier and the America-class amphibious ship.
In addition, the Pentagon will cut 5% of its personnel and 8,000 contract workers to save $55 billion over the next 10 years.
The Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier project consumes a lot of the US budget.
If the Gerald Ford program is canceled, the US will still own 10 aircraft carriers, operating as mobile bases around the world.
In addition to existing weapons, CNAS believes that the Pentagon should invest in potential technologies such as high-energy laser weapons for aircraft and electromagnetic guns for warships.
New laser weapons are only in the testing phase.
However, if we follow CNAS’s proposal, US special forces and drones will only maintain the status quo.
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Tu Quynh
