Are aircraft carriers obsolete? With anti-ship missile technology, can we afford to lose these 14 billion dollar ships?

I can see tactics and doctrine changing as we face new weapons and our countermeasures. The utility of aircraft carriers is dependent on the capabilities of the enemy and the progression of wars. It is imperative that we reach air superiority and air supremacy. The aircraft carrier will remain a major power projection platform.

Can't remember where I saw it over the last week or so Colonel. It was about the Brahmos?

Great question. It seems that every time a new technology enters the battlespace, we begin to wonder if the previous generation's "wonder weapon" is obsolete...Billy Mitchell sure drove that point home in the years between WWI and WWII. My own humble opinion is that the carrier will become obsolete once the aircraft is obsolete. Until then, it's going to be worth the risk (and the cost) to "harden" the CBG against these threats, rather than consider them obsolete. The minute we can call in CAS from a satellite, we're probably looking at "Space Force" as a serious concept.