Jonathan’s head
Corresponding to Southeast Asia
Carl Vinson report off the Philippines
Watch: BBC invited on board the USS Carl Vinson
He looked small at the beginning, in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. However, as we approach the USS Carl Vinson, he filled the view from the back of the ospriny tilt walk which transported us there, his bridge filled with peak war planes. At nearly 90,000 tonnes and more than 300 meters long, the Carl Vinson for nuclear propulsion is one of the largest warships ever built.
Watching your FA18 and F35 fighter planes which take place in the air every minute or two by the steam catapults of the carrier is an experience of the spine, a procedure managed with an impressive calm by the crew on the crowded deck.
A premature Pacific grain that dipped us and everything else has not slowed them at all.
Even after years of rapid progress in Chinese military capacities, the United States is still unrivaled in its ability to project force around the world with its fleet of 11 super-door.
But an aircraft carrier of $ 13 billion (10 billion pounds sterling) that the last Chinese missiles could flow in a few minutes to more sense – especially in the era of Donald Trump?
BBC / Natalie Thomas
USS Carl Vinson (left), JS Kaga (Center) and FS Charles de Gaulle (right), participating in the joint exercise Pacific Stellar
We were invited to the Carl Vinson to see another part of the American carrier strategy, which emphasizes American conviviality and the desire to work with allies – something that you do not hear much in Washington days.
Carl Vinson participated in an exercise with two other aircraft carriers and their escort destroyers from France and Japan, about 200 km east of the Philippines. In the absence of wars to fight, the groups of American carriers spend much of their time doing this, learning to work with allied navies. Last year, they organized an exercise that brought together ships of 18 navies.
This was smaller, but was the first in the Pacific involving a French carrier for more than 40 years.
Argue in favor of alliances
In the massive hangar, below the noisy cockpit, the counter-Adm Michael Wosje, commander of the strike force of Carl Vinson, was seated with his French colleague, the counter-Adm Jacques Mallard of the carrier Charles de Gaulle, and His Japanese colleague Adm Natsui. Kaga Takashi, which is being converted to the first aircraft carrier in Japan since the Second World War.
Charles de Gaulle is the only war ship in the world that corresponds to some of the capacities of American super-porters, but even then, it is only half of their size.
The three admirals overflowed with bonhomie.
The heavy scenes in Europe, where President Trump’s men tear the book of rules that has highlighted international order for 80 years, and tell the unique allies that they were now alone, seemed a world.
BBC / Natalie Thomas
Jaques Colver rear admires
“Our network of alliances and strong partnerships, such as those we share with France and Japan, is a key advantage of our nations while we are under our collective security challenges,” said Adm Wosje. In an ADM Mallard, an impeccable ADM Mallard, “This exercise is the expression of a desire to better understand each other and work for the defense of compliance in international law.”
No one mentioned the new radical views emanating from Washington, and they did not mention an increasingly assertive China, although the ADM Natsui may have had both That Japan has found itself in “the most severe and complex security environment. No country can now protect its own security.”
In the Warren of Steel Corridors that make up the housing of the 5,000 men and women on the Carl Vinson, the official portraits of the new president and vice-president were already suspended, that of Trump with his publisher now familiar. We were not allowed to interview the crew, and the policy would still have been prohibited, but some of them on board were curious about what I thought of the new administration.
BBC / Natalie Thomas
Official portraits of President Trump and Vice-President Vance in the neighborhoods of the USS Carl Vinson crew. What is the vision of the new administration of aircraft carriers?
Internet access on board is uneven, but they remain in contact with the house. We were told that they even obtain Amazon deliveries at sea, resumed designated collection points.
It is then just that there is a lot of discussions on what President Trump has in reserve for these naval giants. Elon Musk has already promised to bring his cost demolition ball to the Pentagon and his budget of $ 900 billion, and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed that, although he pointed out, the Pentagon is not Usaid that President Trump deemed completely closed completely entirely.
In the hangar, we watched the crew maintain the plane, surrounded by packaging boxes and spare parts. We have been warned not to film any exposed part of these technological wonders, for fear of revealing classified information. We couldn’t even risk touching F35 fighters, who have a special prohibitive coating to help hide them from the radar.
They showed us the “jet shop” where they repair and test the engines, a technician who identified himself as “082 Madeiro” explained that they had to transport enough spare parts for the planes to fly on long deployments , and that after a number of hours, the engines must have been completely replaced, whether or not they were defective. There was a whole new engine in his huge packaging next to him. Cost, around $ 15 million.
Here to stay?
Carl Vinson management costs around $ 700m a year.
Will the Trump administration go a knife to the pentagon budget? Hegseth said he thought there was important efficiency to find. He also openly thought about the value of aircraft carriers. “If all our whole power projection platform is aircraft carriers, and if 15 hypersonic missiles can remove our ten aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes of conflict, what is it like?”, A- He said in an interview last November.
The debate on the usefulness of aircraft carriers is not new. This dates back to their appearance a century ago for the first time. Critics maintain today that they are too vulnerable to the latest generation of Chinese ballistic and hypersonic missiles, forcing them to stay at a distance from the Chinese coast that would put their plane out of reach. Money, they say, would be better spent on more recent technology.
BBC / Natalie Thomas
Maintain an F / A18 in the hangar of Carl Vinson. New engines for these planes cost $ 15 million
BBC / Natalie Thomas
The maintenance hangar under the cockpit on USS Carl Vinson with an F35C Raptor fighter, on the left, and an E2C Hawkeye Early Warning plane, right
There is something archaic in these massive and united steel guys, who seemed to have their peak in the Pacific War of the 1940s. However, in the vast expanse of the ocean, with few aerodromes, it turned out to be difficult to do without them. Supporters argue that with their escorts of guided missile destroyers, super carriers can defend themselves quite well and that they are still difficult to flow. By reducing these carriers, to transport only helicopters or planes that can land and take off vertically as many countries have done so, and you end up with ships that are even more vulnerable.
It should be noted that China also believes in the value of aircraft carriers; He has already built three. And as floating symbols of American prestige, they can call on President Trump, a man known for his love of flamboyant structures, whatever the economic arguments for and against them.
BBC / Natalie Thomas
An F / A18 Super Hornet Fighters is preparing for the launch by Steam Catapult from the USS Carl Vinson
When confirming the Senate, Pete Hegseth said that the Trump administration would favor the increase in ship construction, although it has not said how it can be done. The United States only have four naval shipyards; According to some estimates, China has more than 200 times the construction capacity of the United States. He also told his counterparts in Japan and South Korea that he wanted to deepen defense cooperation with them. Europe may be alone, but it seems that the Asian allies will attract the attention of this white house because it focuses on the strategic challenge posed by China.
Three new Ford class nuclear carriers, the next generation after the Carl Vinson, are currently under construction, although two will not be in service before the next decade. The plan is to complete ten of this new class of carrier, and so far, there has been no indication that the Trump administration wants to change this. For all of its many criticisms, the American super-portic portal is probably there to stay.
