Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:01:03-2:01:40

Large drone forces may recreate the aircraft carrier

As shipborne drones become larger and more numerous, the ships that support them start to resemble conventional aircraft carriers again.

Aircraft CarriersForce StructureNaval AviationUncrewed Systems
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Question

Will large drone carriers become a distinct kind of warship?

Short answer

They may use different aircraft, but once the drones are large and numerous enough the support ship effectively recreates the aircraft-carrier model.

Notes

A drone carrier can converge on the familiar aircraft-carrier model as its aircraft become larger. The number of drones a navy wants to operate also drives the size of the ship. The forecast is that sufficiently large air groups would lead back toward a ship of roughly 90,000 to 100,000 tons. Calling it a drone carrier would then describe its aircraft without establishing a fundamentally different type of aviation ship.