Organic air defense for Chinese carrier groups

Carrier fighters defending a known fleet position can work with shipboard sensors and weapons to disrupt incoming strikes. Second World War Fairey Fulmars illustrate the point: modest fighters could still protect a fleet when direction and layered shipboard defences supported them. Their task is to break up an attack before it reaches the inner defensive layers, which places different demands on the aircraft than offensive counter-air missions. The example challenges the assumption that every mission needs the most advanced aircraft available. Sophisticated systems are difficult to manufacture in quantity and especially vulnerable when just-in-time industrial support is disrupted, so mission-appropriate availability can matter more than nominal supremacy.