How carrier missions build an air group of sixty or more aircraft

A carrier carrying thirty-six strike fighters would need other ships to provide its anti-submarine helicopters and supporting aircraft. Such a concentrated strike role is easier in a permissive environment where the carrier faces little threat. For a carrier expected to defend its task group and conduct strikes with its own supporting aviation, the proposed air group exceeds sixty aircraft. A more generous example divides seventy-two aircraft among twenty-four fighters, twenty-four strike aircraft, and twenty-four support or anti-submarine aircraft. More simultaneous missions, longer-range operations, and electronic warfare to suppress air defences can push the example toward ninety-six aircraft. These are mission-based force-sizing judgments: the desired tasks and threats explain the capacity being proposed.