On February 14, local time, the U.S. Navy released information that the "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier strike group returned to its home port in San Diego, California, marking the end of its more than 8-month overseas deployment.
The US military mentioned in this report that in the past 262 days, the "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier has sailed more than 80,000 nautical miles, conducted dual-carrier operations and multinational exercises, including maritime security operations, comprehensive training between surface and air units, and long-range maritime strikes, anti-submarine warfare, information warfare, maritime interception operations and so on. During deployment, the carrier strike group operated in some of the busiest waters in the Indo-Pacific region, including the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea.
It can be said that the "Carl Vinson" is the protagonist of the US military's "drama" in the Indo-Pacific sea in the past year, and various news about it has also been frequently exposed, the most concerned of which is that the F-35C fighter crashed into the South China Sea after hitting the deck of the aircraft carrier in January this year. So what has the Carl Vinson done over the past 8 months or so? What is the intention of the US military in this move?
"Acting" with Japan, Britain, India, Australia and other countries
On August 2, 2021, local time, the aircraft carrier "Carl Vinson" sailed to the Indo-Pacific sea with a luxurious lineup - a fifth-generation carrier-based fighter squadron, an escort formation of a cruiser and six destroyers. Such a large battle goes out, not to bask in the sun, but to show off the muscles.
The year before, the USS Carl Vinson had just completed a "major surgery" at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, which took 17 months and cost $367 million. By March 13, 2022, the Carl Vinson will celebrate its 40th birthday of official service.
40 years old, for human beings is to enter the "year of confusion", for the aircraft carrier means to enter the "old age". The lifespan of aircraft carriers is generally 30 to 50 years, but they need to be modified every 5 years.
The "Carl Vinson" is still not old. This time, it came to the Indo-Pacific sea with the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" formulated by the United States, preparing to participate in various high-intensity exercises and training. The ultimate goal of all this is to preserve the "international order" designed by the United States since the Cold War and its self-proclaimed hegemonic status that has been constantly challenged.
On August 3, 2021, the CARL Vinson tweeted that the Carl Vinson set out to support global maritime security operations and participate in Large Scale Exercise 2021.
"Large-scale Exercise-2021" is a self-directed "one-man show" by the United States, how big is it? The U.S. military used a few key words to describe: the largest military exercise in 40 years, spanning 17 time zones, and multiple seas in Europe, Africa and Asia were held at the same time...
The US military's move is nothing more than to tell its so-called adversaries that they have the ability to act simultaneously in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea.
In this exercise, we used the timeline to dissect the main mission of the "Carl Vinson": assigned to the Hawaii theater of operations on August 8; participated in long-range coordinated maritime strikes on August 13 to demonstrate the ability of the US military to use precise, lethal, and overwhelming forces on a global scale; and on August 16, Aquilino, the commander of the "rocket-promoted" Admiral and commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, visited the "Carlvinson" to watch a real-time, virtual global comprehensive exercise.
Shortly after the exercise, the Carl Vinson sailed into the South China Sea and began its own show: engaging in so-called freedom of navigation to create pressure on its Chinese counterparts. On September 12, the "Carl Vinson" tweeted that it was another busy day, training side by side with the Seventh Fleet, supporting each other, and operating near Chinese ships, aircraft and submarines.
Since then, the "Carl Vinson" has embarked on a provocative operation in the form of a "running account": on September 19, an "honorary approval" ceremony was held with two ships of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force; on September 22, a live-fire exercise was held in the Philippine Sea; on September 23, a bilateral exercise was held with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force; on October 3, an aircraft carrier combat exercise was held with the British, Japanese, Canadian, New Zealand, and Dutch navies; and from October 12 to 15, the Second Phase of the "Malabar 2021" maritime joint exercise was held with the Indian, Japanese, and Australian navies in the Bay of Bengal Annual exercises in the Philippine Sea were held with the Australian, Canadian, German and Japanese navies from November 21 to 30, bilateral exercises with Australia from December 10 to 19, and dual-carrier operations in the South China Sea with the LINCOLN in January this year.
Completed the deployment of the "Future Air Wing"
The USS Carl Vinson can carry more than 5,000 personnel and about 65 fixed-wing, rotary-wing aircraft, and has the speed to sail more than 5,000 nautical miles in less than 7 days. However, what makes the U.S. Navy most proud is its "futuristic nature."
According to the U.S. military report, the USS Carl Vinson was the first aircraft carrier to carry fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, and the U.S. Navy called it the Air Wing of the Future Strengthens Joint Force. It includes the F-35C fighter, CMV-22B Osprey carrier carrier, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, E-2D Premium Hawkeye, MH-60R Seahawk Specialty Helicopter and MH-60S Seahawk. The U.S. military also plans to deploy the MQ-25 unmanned aerial vehicle system in 2025 to perfect the "Future Air Wing."
Since it is the "Future Air Wing", the US military naturally uses all the belongings that it thinks are at the bottom of the pressure box.
For example, the F-35C is considered to be the most advanced fighter of its kind in the U.S. military today. Interestingly, on January 24 this year, an F-35C carrier-based fighter crashed into the flight deck and crashed into the sea while the USS Carl Vinson landed. It was also the first time it had crashed since its commissioning.
The CMV-22B Osprey is used for the transport of special operations teams, the transport of mail and cargo from shore to aircraft carriers, especially the transport of engines required for fighter jets, and for maritime combat search and rescue missions. Two years ago, the U.S. military began to equip it, which changed the two-way transportation mode of greyhound transport aircraft from land to aircraft carriers, realizing multi-point transportation from land to aircraft carriers, aircraft carriers to ships, and land to ships, which helped to improve the transportation mobility of aircraft carrier battle groups.
The Super Hornet is the killer of U.S. aircraft carriers, and the F/A-18E/F has made improvements in stealth performance. Earlier this year, Boeing conducted a series of flight tests on the aircraft and decided it was enough to maintain its advantage for decades to come.
So, in the past 8 months, what has this "Future Air Wing" carried by the "Carl Vinson" been busy? The U.S. military report mentioned that the wing carried out more than 15,000 hours of missions, including 7,791 sorties, 7,702 launches, and 7,761 aircraft interceptions.
Let's take a few more examples from the Carl Vinson tweet. On October 27, 2021, it conducted the second combat training in the South China Sea with the "Future Air Wing", equipped with F-35C fighters and CMV-22B Osprey carrier-based transport aircraft; on November 1, the MH-60S Seahawk took off from the flight deck during a routine operation in the South China Sea.
A show off of "burning money"
"High gambling" is inseparable from strong financial support. In fact, the "Carl Vinson" with a large number of people and horses in the Indo-Pacific sea for more than 8 months, "burning money" is also imaginable.
We mentioned at the outset that the Carl Vinson had just undergone an overhaul at a cost of $367 million. Other equipment on the carrier is also expensive. In July 2018, for example, the joint project team of Bell and Boeing in the United States received a $4 billion contract to purchase 39 CMV-22B Ospreys by the U.S. Navy.
How much does an aircraft carrier cost? This is also a concern for many Americans. We've put together some answers from the U.S. version of "Zhihu" Quora.
Some argue that each aircraft carrier has an average of 6590 people, and the average annual operating cost of the supercarrier is $1.18 billion. An aircraft carrier wing typically consists of 4,860 people, with an annual operating cost of $910 million per unit. Therefore, taking into account the aircraft carriers, including the Air Wing, the annual operating costs are about $2.1 billion.
If maritime navigation is taken into account, the cost will increase again. Some people have calculated that a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier will cost about $1 million a day at sea; an aircraft will cost about $80,000 per launch. It is also estimated that an aircraft carrier battle group costs about $2.5 million a day.
This data is not authoritatively corroborated, but it is enough to prove that the aircraft carrier is not something that any country can play.
Of course, the reason why the United States can spend enough money to let the aircraft carrier around the world is because it has strong economic strength itself, and it also has the support of the "joining fee" of its allies and the support of the hegemony of the US dollar.
The trajectory of the "Carl Vinson" in the past 8 months or so is only a microcosm of the US implementation of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" in the military field. Of course, the "Carl Vinson" is an important force for the US military to carry out containment operations in the South China Sea. The US military's investment in the most advanced naval equipment, even at the expense of an accident such as the F-35C fighter crashing into the sea, is enough to prove that the United States hopes to form a deterrent in the Indo-Pacific sea, especially in the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese often said that soldiers came to cover the water. In the face of the provocation of the United States to the doorstep, China has also actively responded, gradually forming a mature set of "killing chains". Whether the U.S. ostentation ultimately brings deterrence to opponents or self-"bloodletting", perhaps time will give the answer. #媒体人周刊 #