
With the recent deployment of the new and NIFC-CA capable E-2D to Japan for stationing on the Ronald Reagan, I was looking up some videos on YouTube about the aircraft and I came across this.
[YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-az7P_e-fGk[/YouTube]
The simulation behind the gentleman speaking seems to depict actual radar tape from the E-2D. Because I stare at maps all day I realized pretty quickly that the geography depicted is real and looks a lot like Nova Scotia, and it was. Kind of interesting that the Navy would test the E-2D off the coast of Canada in the North Atlantic but what's more interesting is that if you duplicate that radius on Google Earth you get roughly a distance of 355 miles from center to rim.
Very impressive and for curiosity I went over on the Pacific side and drew a circle 355 miles in radius originating from right above Okinawa, and what do you know, it almost perfectly reaches right up to the Chinese shoreline and touches South Korea and Taiwan end to end, effectively covering all of the possible approaches for the PLA within the East China Sea battle space.
If you put another E-2D in the middle of the Baishai Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, it can cover that southern sector of the East China Sea and reaching deep into the top part of the South China Sea right up to the Chinese shoreline/Hainan island.
So just TWO E-2Ds, well out of SAM range from the mainland, could basically cover the entire space from the Korea Strait, to almost the Paracel Islands and Hainan and see any Chinese aircraft or surface ships as soon as they get airborne or underway. I am more convinced than ever that there is no way China can break out into the open Pacific given the current geographical constraints and the order and magnitude of forces arrayed against it in advantageous positions and being more technologically sophisticated.
No one ever won a war by lobbing missiles, you have to take and hold ground/space and you can't do that if all of your platforms are being blasted the moment they leave the safety of your mainland. If the SM-6 has similar range, oh boy, too bad we don't have a way to carry and launch them via airborne platforms a la arsenal plane. You realize that the AMRAAM, even the D version at the higher speculative end for range, is still not long range enough to fully utilize the sensors we have coming online.
Imagine if a Super Hornet could launch its AIM-120s 200 miles out aided by the Hawkeye. It would not have to go anywhere near the target and expose itself or give away any possible clue as to where the carrier is. Of course in lieu of an extreme range A2A missile the Navy could have developed a stealthy UCAV and made it to be loaded up with AMRAAMs so it could orbit near enemy territory, be cued by the E-2D when a target is within range, and just spit out missiles on command. But in all their wisdom the Navy wants a fuel/tanker UCAV. WTF on that one.
I hope Chinese submarines remain mostly diesel and inferior/noisy because that is their best bet/only option. If they develop really quiet and offensively armed/capable nuclear submarines they can sneak past the first island chain and lurk and gather intelligence and launch missile raids on land sites/forces from our blind spots, or threaten/target and try to sink our ships/carriers operating in the Pacific Basin. This would deny us the ability to control the sea and set up those picket lines with our surface ships so they can launch their SM-6 and Tomahwaks, and of course it would not allow the carrier freedom of movement to conduct air operations or unnoticed transit. As of right now that is not the case but that is an area of worry. No wonder the Navy wants to have 60 attack submarines going forward!
If they sink even one of our carriers we are really screwed! You know all of those US/allied air bases near China are getting blasted on zero hour by a wave of ballistic and cruise missiles from the PLA mainland. The air base that will unaffected and able to provide uninterrupted/mobile air power at will on those early days will be the carriers. Forget that distributed operations crap. By the time we figure that out and have it up and running in the middle of a war, they have already landed forces on Taiwan proper and established beachheads. But not if the carriers are out to sea and lurking nearby and employing assets like the E-2D and long range anti air and anti ship missiles to sink and shoot down their invasion fleets.
And I don't buy this notion that the flat tops have to be like a 1000 miles away or whatever the ballistic anti-ship missile hype says, since a carrier running dark and silent and constantly hauling a$$ in a VERY LARGE ocean is hard to find. Especially when you have to rely on space assets for detection because you cannot get surface or airborne reconnaissance platforms near it to located it. But again, all of this changes should the Chinese build quality nuke boats and become skillful in employing them. The submarine threat remains the most dangerous and compromising and cannot be understated.
[YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-az7P_e-fGk[/YouTube]
The simulation behind the gentleman speaking seems to depict actual radar tape from the E-2D. Because I stare at maps all day I realized pretty quickly that the geography depicted is real and looks a lot like Nova Scotia, and it was. Kind of interesting that the Navy would test the E-2D off the coast of Canada in the North Atlantic but what's more interesting is that if you duplicate that radius on Google Earth you get roughly a distance of 355 miles from center to rim.
Very impressive and for curiosity I went over on the Pacific side and drew a circle 355 miles in radius originating from right above Okinawa, and what do you know, it almost perfectly reaches right up to the Chinese shoreline and touches South Korea and Taiwan end to end, effectively covering all of the possible approaches for the PLA within the East China Sea battle space.
If you put another E-2D in the middle of the Baishai Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, it can cover that southern sector of the East China Sea and reaching deep into the top part of the South China Sea right up to the Chinese shoreline/Hainan island.
So just TWO E-2Ds, well out of SAM range from the mainland, could basically cover the entire space from the Korea Strait, to almost the Paracel Islands and Hainan and see any Chinese aircraft or surface ships as soon as they get airborne or underway. I am more convinced than ever that there is no way China can break out into the open Pacific given the current geographical constraints and the order and magnitude of forces arrayed against it in advantageous positions and being more technologically sophisticated.
No one ever won a war by lobbing missiles, you have to take and hold ground/space and you can't do that if all of your platforms are being blasted the moment they leave the safety of your mainland. If the SM-6 has similar range, oh boy, too bad we don't have a way to carry and launch them via airborne platforms a la arsenal plane. You realize that the AMRAAM, even the D version at the higher speculative end for range, is still not long range enough to fully utilize the sensors we have coming online.
Imagine if a Super Hornet could launch its AIM-120s 200 miles out aided by the Hawkeye. It would not have to go anywhere near the target and expose itself or give away any possible clue as to where the carrier is. Of course in lieu of an extreme range A2A missile the Navy could have developed a stealthy UCAV and made it to be loaded up with AMRAAMs so it could orbit near enemy territory, be cued by the E-2D when a target is within range, and just spit out missiles on command. But in all their wisdom the Navy wants a fuel/tanker UCAV. WTF on that one.
I hope Chinese submarines remain mostly diesel and inferior/noisy because that is their best bet/only option. If they develop really quiet and offensively armed/capable nuclear submarines they can sneak past the first island chain and lurk and gather intelligence and launch missile raids on land sites/forces from our blind spots, or threaten/target and try to sink our ships/carriers operating in the Pacific Basin. This would deny us the ability to control the sea and set up those picket lines with our surface ships so they can launch their SM-6 and Tomahwaks, and of course it would not allow the carrier freedom of movement to conduct air operations or unnoticed transit. As of right now that is not the case but that is an area of worry. No wonder the Navy wants to have 60 attack submarines going forward!
If they sink even one of our carriers we are really screwed! You know all of those US/allied air bases near China are getting blasted on zero hour by a wave of ballistic and cruise missiles from the PLA mainland. The air base that will unaffected and able to provide uninterrupted/mobile air power at will on those early days will be the carriers. Forget that distributed operations crap. By the time we figure that out and have it up and running in the middle of a war, they have already landed forces on Taiwan proper and established beachheads. But not if the carriers are out to sea and lurking nearby and employing assets like the E-2D and long range anti air and anti ship missiles to sink and shoot down their invasion fleets.
And I don't buy this notion that the flat tops have to be like a 1000 miles away or whatever the ballistic anti-ship missile hype says, since a carrier running dark and silent and constantly hauling a$$ in a VERY LARGE ocean is hard to find. Especially when you have to rely on space assets for detection because you cannot get surface or airborne reconnaissance platforms near it to located it. But again, all of this changes should the Chinese build quality nuke boats and become skillful in employing them. The submarine threat remains the most dangerous and compromising and cannot be understated.
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."