At present, the U.S. Navy has deployed five nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and two amphibious assault ships around the world, including the deployment of a "Eisenhower" aircraft carrier in the Red Sea to combat the Houthis, and in the western Pacific region, it is rare to deploy three aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship, which shows that the strategic focus of the United States is still in East Asia.
The USNI News website reported that the USS Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, and the USS America Amphibious Strike Group have completed their assembly in the Philippine Sea and are conducting joint training missions. Judging from the regional labels given by the US media, the three major combat clusters of the US Navy are less than 1,000 kilometers away from Taiwan, China, and considering that the strike radius of US aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft is about 1,000 kilometers, US aircraft carriers already have the ability to pose a threat to the security of the Taiwan Strait.
From the point of view of the strength lineup, the US Navy's three major clusters are almost full, and they can launch a high-intensity naval and air campaign at any time. The USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group includes one nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN-70), one Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (CG-59), four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers (DDG-70, DDG-100, DDG-104, DDG-110) and the second carrier-based aircraft wing, of which the carrier-based aircraft wing has three F/A-18E/F Super Hornets under its jurisdiction Carrier-based aircraft squadron, 1 squadron of F-35C stealth carrier-based aircraft, and 1 squadron of EA-18G "Growler" electronic warfare aircraft, the total number of carrier-based aircraft exceeds 70 aircraft.
The USS Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group includes one nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN-71), one Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser (CG-70), three Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyers (DDG-56, DDG-97, DDG-118), and the 11th Carrier-based Aircraft Squadron, which has four F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-based aircraft squadrons and one EA-18G Growler The squadron of electronic warfare aircraft, the total number of carrier-based aircraft also exceeded 70 units.
It is worth noting that the amphibious assault ship "America" that arrived near the waters off Taiwan this time carries a squadron of F-35B vertical take-off and landing fighters, has 12 F-35B stealth fighters, has a strong aviation combat capability, and is stronger than the aircraft carrier combat power of many countries, so the "America" is already an aircraft carrier in the true sense of the word.
Taken together, the U.S. Navy has deployed three aircraft carriers off the coast of Taiwan, which is extremely rare in peacetime. You must know that during the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, the US Navy only dispatched two aircraft carrier strike groups and one amphibious combat group near the Taiwan Strait.
Some media believe that the US military has assembled three aircraft carriers in the Asia-Pacific region mainly to respond to North Korea's recent nuclear weapons and missile launch tests to deter North Korea, but this argument is really far-fetched. First of all, North Korea's military size is small, and it is not worth the US military to send three aircraft carriers for deterrence, and one aircraft carrier is enough. Second, the US aircraft carrier cluster is located in the Philippine Sea near Taiwan, more than 2,000 kilometers away from North Korea, and such a long distance simply cannot constitute a deterrent to North Korea. Therefore, the purpose of the United States assembling three aircraft carriers in the Asia-Pacific region is not to deal with North Korea, so there is only one possibility left, that is, the American aircraft carriers are coming for China.
As a matter of fact, the three US aircraft carriers have assembled in the Asia-Pacific region for two main purposes, one is for Taiwan and the other is for the South China Sea.
In early January, China's Taiwan region completed its "general election" and finally selected a candidate to the satisfaction of the United States, and the United States will certainly say that in addition to sending heavyweight congressmen to visit Taiwan, military "support" is indispensable. What people did not expect was that the United States actually dispatched three aircraft carriers to stand for the Taiwan authorities, which shows that Taiwan is still in the core position in the strategic layout of the United States. With the support of the United States, the DPP authorities in the Taiwan region may make even more reckless moves, and the situation in the Taiwan Strait is likely to continue to heat up in the future.
In addition, the arrival of the US aircraft carrier cluster is also intended to support the Philippines, make the Philippines feel the strength of its "backer", and encourage it to continue to provoke incidents in the South China Sea. Since the beginning of last year, the Philippines has been jumping up and down on Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal, and the United States has played a key role in backing the back, and if the United States has maintained a strong military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, then the Philippines will have plenty of confidence to stir up trouble.
In the face of the menacing US aircraft carrier group, a certain shore-to-ship missile regiment of the PLA Eastern Theater Navy immediately rushed to the eastern coast of Fujian to carry out an all-element missile attack training on the sea. In the footage exposed by CCTV, a number of shore-based anti-ship missile launchers quickly maneuvered to the coast, and after the launchers arrived at the position, a number of YJ-62 anti-ship cruise missiles were launched and rushed to sea targets.
YJ-62 is a long-range anti-ship cruise missile equipped by the mainland in early 2000, mainly equipped with 052C destroyers and shore-to-ship missile units, the range of this type of missile is 40~650 kilometers, the maximum flight speed is Mach 0.9, the warhead weighs 300 kg, and can hit large and medium-sized ships. In terms of guidance mode, the YJ-62 adopts a composite guidance mode of inertial guidance + relay guidance correction + terminal active radar guidance, and the latest improved version is also equipped with an infrared guidance seeker, which makes the YJ-62 missile have a high strike accuracy and strong anti-jamming ability, and can carry out precision strikes on sea surface targets 600 kilometers away.
Although the range of the shore-based YJ-62 missile cannot cover the US aircraft carrier group, it can already send a clear signal to the US military that the PLA is not afraid of threats and has the ability to destroy all invading enemies!
At present, the PLA has a variety of anti-aircraft carrier missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, such as land-based Dongfeng-21D and Dongfeng-26B anti-ship ballistic missiles, air-based YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship missiles, and sea-based YJ-21 hypersonic missiles.