A carrier's aircraft can refuel and rearm from stores transferred to the ship at sea. Fuel and missiles from replenishment ships allow the air group to continue operating through repeated engagements. The comparison treats an escort's fixed VLS load as unavailable for reloading at sea, making magazine depletion a limit on its endurance. Apparent convergence between ship-missile range and carrier-strike reach is also attributed to underinvestment in carrier aircraft. Carrier aviation and escort missiles consequently offer complementary layers of defence during prolonged attacks.
Notable Point · 40:22-41:44
The aircraft carrier as a reloadable air-defence layer
Replenishing a carrier's fuel and weapons at sea allows its aircraft to sustain an outer air-defence layer through repeated attacks.