China's aircraft carrier development is quite rapid. Nowadays, in the eyes of the United States, a superpower navy has arrived! According to a report by the American media "1945" website on June 1, 2025, the Chinese Navy will have six aircraft carriers. Since modern times, no country other than the United States has ever approached this number. More importantly, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are on the horizon. The US media reported that according to the latest information, China will start construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

US media: A superpower aircraft carrier fleet with six aircraft carriers is being born.

The Chinese Navy already has two active aircraft carriers, and the third one is undergoing sea trials. More importantly, nuclear power is imminent. The two aircraft carriers expected to be built are estimated by the US media to be nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, each capable of carrying 100 carrier-based aircraft. This development momentum has left the American media website "1945" quite surprised. According to the views of American experts, the birth of a superpower fleet in the East is something that Americans would never have imagined even a decade ago.

A huge fleet of six aircraft carriers?

The US Navy has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, leading the world in its position, unrivaled. If the Chinese Navy has six aircraft carriers, it will rewrite naval combat rules. The US Navy belongs to global navies, but the Chinese Navy does not have global deployment requirements. Even though its scale is much smaller, it can establish an advantage in certain areas.

Three aircraft carriers from the US Navy alone constitute a large-scale campaign.

Now, what worries the United States is not how advanced China's aircraft carrier technology is or how large its scale is. The advantage in scale gives the United States considerable confidence. However, future developments are unfavorable for the United States. On May 14, 2025, US Navy Secretary John Folan attended a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee for Defense in Washington, D.C., to testify about the fiscal year 2026 military budget request. He claimed: The US shipbuilding capability lags far behind China, and there is an urgent need for reforms beyond current practices.

If we simply compare the shipbuilding capabilities based on American standards, China's capacity is 232 times that of the United States. China has the world's largest shipyards, constructing almost half of the world's ships annually. China can build almost any type of vessel, whether military or civilian. After the continuous decline in the size of US shipyards, they can now only build military vessels, with near-zero capability in civilian shipbuilding.

The crisis facing the US Navy is not in the number of aircraft carriers, but in building them.

Although the United States still has quite strong aircraft carrier construction capabilities, its production capacity has nearly reached its limit. It is virtually impossible to increase the aircraft carrier construction capacity. There are only a few shipyards left in the United States, and only one can build aircraft carriers. There is no backup option available. Currently, it is not just about building new vessels; even maintaining old ones is difficult. In fact, all naval shipbuilding projects are experiencing delays, with no possibility of improvement. The situation has reached a point where the US Navy has sufficient military funds to purchase warships, but there is insufficient production capacity to meet military needs.

The United States has long been aware of the decline in its shipbuilding industry and has been trying to enhance shipbuilding capabilities. The solution proposed by John Folan involves multiple aspects, including the so-called "Navy Act." According to his plan, long-term procurement of warships should be implemented to achieve economies of scale. The implementation of a contractor accountability and labor support mechanism should channel funds into critical infrastructure and labor investments. Additionally, loosening regulations and tax reforms should revitalize the shipbuilding industrial base and accelerate the delivery of warships.

Americans are now looking back to "revitalize shipbuilding."

The principle of the entire solution is, "We cannot achieve results through business as usual strategies," but the core content remains "money," meaning "funding is key. Plans without funding commitments are mere empty talk."

If we take a quick look, the current national policy of the United States is to increase military spending. After setting a $900 billion military budget, discussions are ongoing regarding an additional $150 billion military spending proposal. The United States has not considered solving the shortage of shipbuilding capacity fundamentally, such as building more shipyards or expanding the shipbuilding workforce. Instead, it is merely considering options outside of increasing production capacity, such as long-term warship procurement, which aims to reduce costs through bulk purchasing. The claim that "bulk purchases save over 10% compared to traditional procurement methods" is meaningless without increasing the production capacity of shipbuilding enterprises because the efficiency gained from mass production cannot be utilized without increased production capacity.

The crisis facing the US Navy lies in the shipyards.

The Pentagon plans to implement a contracting mechanism to put pressure on contractors to improve efficiency. But what if contractors breach contracts? Now, the United States lacks backup contractors. For certain products, there is only one contractor available. One has no choice but to select them. The US defense industry conglomerate has become a significant burden for the country due to its immense influence. As the article on the "1945" website pointed out, "Over the past 25 years, naval shipbuilding has become a publicly traded company, thus having to be accountable to shareholders rather than the nation."

US media also recognizes the crisis but lacks solutions.

The defense industry conglomerate is solely profit-driven and does not take responsibility for the nation. At this time, the so-called "accountability" is nothing but a joke. Contractors can disregard everything, and simply raising prices can yield higher profits without increasing output. All they need to do is ensure their accounts are clear. Mistakes cannot be punished. The decline of the US Navy stems entirely from the monopoly of the military-industrial complex!

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7511383908743856690/

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