US Defense Secretary Hackett said that China's hypersonic missiles could sink US aircraft carriers, and Indian experts spoke up: "Listen not listen, the tortoise is reciting scriptures!"

In a TV interview in mid-April, US Defense Secretary Hackett claimed that China has been building its own military strength with the sole purpose of defeating the United States. Hackett also asked the reporter rhetorically: "What would the scenario be if 15 hypersonic missiles destroyed 10 US aircraft carriers within the first 20 minutes of a conflict?"

Hackett has always opposed going to war with China.

Hackett admitted the PLA's anti-carrier capabilities, which seemed to dampen the morale of the US military, but it did not provoke much debate in American public opinion circles, as this was not the first time Hackett had made such remarks.

As early as when he was nominated as Defense Secretary by Trump last November, Hackett had already publicly expressed similar views. In the three months since taking office, he has mentioned this several times. Clearly, Hackett is using every opportunity to convey the message that "war with China cannot happen," guiding domestic US public opinion with the conclusion that "hypersonic weapons can defeat carriers."

American reactions to the claim of "hypersonic weapons defeating carriers" have been lukewarm, but India's response has been significant. The Indian media outlet "Eurasian Times" even published an article by an analyst from an Indian think tank, refuting Hackett's statement as having no practical significance, merely fueling the "China threat theory."

The Indian media firmly believes that the aircraft carrier remains the most powerful weapon in naval warfare, and there is no such thing as a "killer锏" that can counteract carriers, not even hypersonic missiles. Hackett exaggerating the PLA's carrier-killing capabilities is already paving the way for the US Department of Defense to secure congressional funding.

Hackett's remarks have caused dissatisfaction among Indian think tanks.

Indians are so sensitive to the "aircraft carrier obsolescence theory" because they are currently enthusiastic about building new aircraft carriers.

According to the statement of India's Chief of Defense Staff, Anil Chauhan, India needs to build a "two-ocean fleet."

Each fleet will be equipped with one aircraft carrier, plus a backup. One fleet will control the Bay of Bengal on the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent, especially to control the Malacca Strait, blocking the passage of Chinese ships entering the Indian Ocean. The other fleet will control the Arabian Sea on the western side, intimidating the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Together, these two fleets could cut off China's main maritime supply artery through the Indian Ocean, strangling China's neck.

Under this strategy, India's current two aircraft carriers are insufficient. They have repeatedly requested the construction of a third aircraft carrier, namely India's second domestically built aircraft carrier.

Due to budget and technical threshold issues, the indicators for India's second domestically built aircraft carrier have been repeatedly reduced, from an over 60,000-ton electromagnetic catapult carrier, "downgraded" to a 45,000-ton light ski-jump carrier. In other words, India's aircraft carrier research and construction capabilities in the next 10 to 20 years can only reach the level of Vikrant improvements.

With this in mind, it becomes clear why Indians reacted so strongly, emphasizing that Hackett's statements are like a stubborn tortoise reciting scriptures.

India is very proud of its dual aircraft carrier formation.

After all, there is a huge gap between aircraft carriers. Even if India has three 45,000-ton ski-jump carriers equipped with Rafale M fighter jets, it may still not be a match for one 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the US Navy.

If Hackett says that the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers can't withstand 15 salvos from the PLA's hypersonic missiles, isn't this equivalent to saying that the PLA only needs a single-digit number of hypersonic missiles to destroy India's aircraft carriers?

Clearly, at this moment, when someone tries to pour cold water on the "carrier fever," Indian media is reluctant to accept it. Therefore, the article in "Eurasian Times" cited two examples to try to prove that the US Navy's aircraft carriers are not afraid of China's missiles.

China's anti-ship ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles have become nightmares for carriers, but Indians are unwilling to admit it.

The first example is a "SinkEx" live-fire exercise conducted by the US Navy in 2005 to test the survivability of aircraft carriers in combat.

The core of this exercise was to destroy the retired USS America (CV-66), a supercarrier of the Kitty Hawk class, which had a full-load displacement of more than 80,000 tons and was the largest conventional power carrier in the world before the Fujian-class aircraft carrier was launched.

The exercise began on April 19, 2005, and this aircraft carrier withstood multiple rounds of live fire attacks until May 14 to be sunk. The strike methods included: detonating explosives underwater to simulate torpedo attacks, launching air-to-surface missiles from aircraft and dropping bombs to attack above the waterline.

The "America" had such strong resistance to damage because it used a double hull and a battleship-like anti-sinking structure.

The US Navy's 2005 "SinkEx" live-fire exercise sank a retired Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier.

Based on this live-fire drill, Indian experts believe that even if an aircraft carrier is struck by hypersonic missiles, it will not easily sink. As long as it can return to port for repairs, it has the potential to rejoin the combat lineup.

The second example is the US Navy's ongoing development of various types of laser weapons. Indian experts consider high-energy laser weapons as a key tool against hypersonic missiles.

According to the US Navy's 2025 fiscal year budget, the "Laser Weapon System Demonstrator" plan has been transferred to the "High Energy Laser Counter Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Program" (HELCAP), accelerating R&D progress to counter the threat of anti-ship cruise missiles. Indians believe that further development of this program could counter China's hypersonic missiles.

However, neither of the two examples provided by Indians is convincing.

The US Navy only expects laser weapons to counter traditional anti-ship cruise missiles.

Firstly, while it is indeed difficult to completely sink an aircraft carrier under traditional anti-ship means, disabling a carrier and rendering it combat ineffective does not necessarily mean aiming for complete sinking.

Even if a carrier is hit by one or two hypersonic missiles, it could lose most of its combat effectiveness. Even if it miraculously returns to port for repairs, the long cycle will force the carrier to completely miss the war.

In the second example, even the US Navy only dares to imagine that laser weapons could destroy anti-ship cruise missiles. If they truly had the potential to counter hypersonic missiles, wouldn't the US Army, with its tradition of creating concepts out of thin air and exaggerating propaganda, have openly stated so?

The maximum power of the laser weapons currently being developed by the US Navy is only around 500 kilowatts, sufficient to destroy targets like cruise missiles at distances of just a few kilometers, and must operate under good weather conditions to achieve ideal damage effects.

Laser weapons capable of destroying hypersonic missiles remain a distant dream.

China's anti-ship ballistic missile test site in the western desert has been tested for many years.

Moreover, how capable the US Navy is has little to do with India. Could India's two 45,000-ton aircraft carriers rival the survivability of a Kitty Hawk-class carrier? Or does India think it can catch up with the US in the laser weapons field?

Some US think tanks also oppose the "carrier obsolescence theory," but their most common argument is that China is also building more aircraft carriers. Besides the regular large aircraft carrier Fujian, China might even be building a nuclear-powered supercarrier. Since China is not worried about the "carrier obsolescence theory," then the US Navy should not be either.

Indians' anxiety about hypersonic missiles is based on real reasons. Not only can the Type 055 destroyer launch hypersonic missiles, but if we deploy the anti-ship variant of the DF-26 in Yunnan Province, it can cover the Bay of Bengal. Launching from the Tibet border, it could even cover most of the Arabian Sea.

In other words, all ports in South Asia are within range of the PLA's anti-ship ballistic missiles. How could the Indian Navy not be anxious? Denial might be one of their desperate measures.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7500519899568259599/

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