Jay_ said:
I dont know what you are trying to prove here. Burke's are capable if not the best behind those swedish one's. Just coz some Russian flankers did a fly by on a CVBG does not mean that its the end of USN, does it?
And read the circumstances on how and why it happened.
OK, I'll explain. The Burke's are what protect a carrier group - along with with aircraft, ASW and subs, etc. They are responsible for a "space denial" ( best phrase I can think of) of several miles around the carrier.
The planes that buzzed the Kitty Hawk were not even the latest and greatest Russian planes. In real life it would have meant - the carrier just got sunk. The Chinese Air Force flies the SU-30MKKs that can carry the latest and greatest class of supersonic anti-ship missiles that are classified as " carrier busters". The Russian built Chinese destroyers also carry these.
Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyers, have been test-firing their SS-N-22 Sunburn carrier-busting anti-ship missiles (range 120km). In March this year, Chinese navy ordered two more Sovremennys, to be delivered by 2005. They will be equipped with the SS-N-26 Yakhont supersonic anti-ship missile (range 300km).
Bottom line is if the Burke's and other defenses could not protect the carrier, all we have is a large target that can be nailed easily.
All the Chinese need is a 1% success rate!!
I am going by my earlier post that the US would not intervene if China attacked Taiwan for the same reason.
Carrier Battle groups represent the symbol of America's power projection as a superpower. The loss of even one carrier in terms of men, (~3,000), global prestige ( man! them 3rd world people were able to sink a mighty carrier of the world's only superpower), local public outrage ( where the hell is Taiwan - and why should we care? please remember the average American does not really know the difference) of why we were in harms way, would escalate the political - not military costs of intervention.
That is what I meant by we will not have the political will and the talk of defending Taiwan is nothing more than rhetoric!