24 Chinese Hypersonic Missiles Will Sink Top U.S. Aircraft Carrier

A paper released in the Chinese-language Journal of Test and Measurement Technology claimed that 24 Chinese hypersonic missiles will sink a top U.S. aircraft carrier.

Hypersonic weapons could be “catastrophic” for the most potent aircraft carrier group in the US fleet, according to war game simulations run by a team of military planners in China.

Over 20 intense battles, Chinese forces sank the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier fleet with a volley of 24 hypersonic anti-ship missiles, in a simulation run on a mainstream war game software platform used by China’s military.

In the scenario, the US vessels are attacked after continuing to approach a China-claimed island in the South China Sea despite repeated warnings.

A paper detailing the war game was published in May by the Chinese-language Journal of Test and Measurement Technology. It is the first time the results of simulated hypersonic strikes against a US carrier group have been made public.

The researchers, led by Cao Hongsong from the North University of China, said almost every US surface vessel was shattered by the attack and eventually sank in the simulation.

The war games suggested the US carrier group – previously regarded as unsinkable by conventional weapons – could be “destroyed with certainty” by a relatively small number of hypersonic strikes, they said.

In the simulation, Chinese forces launched 24 hypersonic anti-ship missiles from six sites ranging from southern China to the Gobi desert. Illustration: North University of China

The team said two hypersonic anti-ship missile models with vastly different performances were unleashed in the simulation, with some launched from as far away as the Gobi Desert.

The Chinese military displayed “unusual prowess in their sophisticated launch strategy” which consisted of an intentionally complex three-wave attack meant to deceive and overcome the formidable defence systems of the US carrier group, the paper said.

Military planners use sophisticated war game simulations to evaluate various scenarios and develop strategies but they cannot be relied on over real-world testing and evaluation.

Defense News reported that a satellite image reveals a supersonic drone, which appears to be a WZ-8 supersonic reconnaissance drone, at a Chinese military base.

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