First, thanks for the comment. Comments build community, which I would really like to create here.
On your question, I think there are two big reasons we have not yet lost a carrier in a hot spot
1. No country with which we are currently at war has either the satellite coverage or (as far was we know) access to sat intelligence that renders carriers always visible. The Russians or the Chinese could grant access to, say, Iran, which might be problematic.
2. Aegis really is a magnificent system. (I hope I did not appear to underestimate it.) It can handle any contemporary threat from almost any country. It probably can defeat hypersonics in small numbers. We know it shot down an SSBM. (The arc of an SSMB may make it more vulnerable than a hypersonic. If anyone knows more about that, please contribute.) But hypersonics are brand new. It is not at all clear that Aegis could handle a horde of incoming hypersonics. And Aegis (but not Helios) is a ballistic weapon. It can run out of ammo. Sinking a carrier is a $25 billion prize, not even counting the cost of replacing the crew. That justifies hours and hours, days of sustained attacks on an always visible, slow moving, sinkable target. Not good odds for us.
There will be other ways to attack. A laser can't destroy an incoming that has a very high mass. Bombardment of a target from space with large heavy projectiles, possibly launched from the moon, will become a thing. The ultimate weapon is a directed asteroid strike.
Yes. Cf The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I believe these things will come. I believe we will find many ways to kill large numbers of people. I just don't believe the near future (couple decades?) will be very promising for force projection leading to the conquest of territory.
With the aircraft carrier so vulnerable, how do we position aircraft close to hotspots ??
First, thanks for the comment. Comments build community, which I would really like to create here.
On your question, I think there are two big reasons we have not yet lost a carrier in a hot spot
1. No country with which we are currently at war has either the satellite coverage or (as far was we know) access to sat intelligence that renders carriers always visible. The Russians or the Chinese could grant access to, say, Iran, which might be problematic.
2. Aegis really is a magnificent system. (I hope I did not appear to underestimate it.) It can handle any contemporary threat from almost any country. It probably can defeat hypersonics in small numbers. We know it shot down an SSBM. (The arc of an SSMB may make it more vulnerable than a hypersonic. If anyone knows more about that, please contribute.) But hypersonics are brand new. It is not at all clear that Aegis could handle a horde of incoming hypersonics. And Aegis (but not Helios) is a ballistic weapon. It can run out of ammo. Sinking a carrier is a $25 billion prize, not even counting the cost of replacing the crew. That justifies hours and hours, days of sustained attacks on an always visible, slow moving, sinkable target. Not good odds for us.
There will be other ways to attack. A laser can't destroy an incoming that has a very high mass. Bombardment of a target from space with large heavy projectiles, possibly launched from the moon, will become a thing. The ultimate weapon is a directed asteroid strike.
Yes. Cf The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I believe these things will come. I believe we will find many ways to kill large numbers of people. I just don't believe the near future (couple decades?) will be very promising for force projection leading to the conquest of territory.