This counterfactual asks what a later SSRN might have become if the US Navy had retained one for every carrier group. Possible successors could combine radar and electronic-warfare functions with self-defense missiles or underwater-launched air-defense weapons, capabilities with Soviet and Russian submarine precedents. The idea gains a different logic after post-Cold War cuts reduced specialist aircraft fleets. Losing one aircraft and its trained crew can remove a large share of a six-aircraft force, while the same loss is easier to absorb across sixty aircraft and a much larger personnel pool. The argument concerns force resilience as much as the platform itself.
Notable Point · 29:46-35:00
What a modern radar-picket submarine might become
A counterfactual section asks whether a later Triton-like submarine would add missiles, sensors, or electronic warfare as aircraft numbers declined.