Re:The Nation Needs a Shipbuilding Revolution
by XorNot on Tuesday February 04, 2025 @08:25AM
(#42931994)
In what universe are naval vessels an outdated technology?
This is making the classic mistake of assuming that a platform being vulnerable means it is not useful - which couldn't be further from the truth.
The US and NATO are heavily missile based militaries these days, and a ship is an efficient way to move a large amount of heavy ordnance to current theatres of operation. The endurance of a warship with stand off munitions in supporting land forces it's much higher than any air borne assets and a lot cheaper to run and that's very much the key: money at these scales is far from unlimited, and just because an aircraft could do any particular job doesn't mean you can sustain aircraft doing every job in a conflict (ala there's a reason special forces aren't just regular forces).
This is making the classic mistake of assuming that a platform being vulnerable means it is not useful - which couldn't be further from the truth.
The US and NATO are heavily missile based militaries these days, and a ship is an efficient way to move a large amount of heavy ordnance to current theatres of operation. The endurance of a warship with stand off munitions in supporting land forces it's much higher than any air borne assets and a lot cheaper to run and that's very much the key: money at these scales is far from unlimited, and just because an aircraft could do any particular job doesn't mean you can sustain aircraft doing every job in a conflict (ala there's a reason special forces aren't just regular forces).