Does each Taiwan-bound convoy need 10,000 VLS cells?

Would each convoy entering a Taiwan conflict need about 10,000 VLS cells?

The requirement is rejected as implausible. Reloadable carrier aviation would share the fighting with escorts, although repeated sorties do not equal an arsenal ship's single salvo.

Using 96 cells per Arleigh Burke, the calculation requires 105 destroyers to reach 10,000 cells for one convoy. The estimate is rejected as an implausible requirement, given the destroyer fleet it implies and doubts about manufacturing enough missiles to fill the launchers for repeated convoys. Aircraft carriers, drone carriers, and LHDs offer a different way to sustain firepower because supply ships can transfer bombs and missiles at sea for repeated aircraft sorties. Carrier aircraft provide outer air defence and strike capability, while escorts protect the convoy against submarines and attacks that get through. An aircraft carrier cannot deliver an arsenal ship's entire missile load in one strike, but repeated sorties can deliver comparable concentrated firepower over a battle. The suggestion of four carrier battle groups belongs to an extreme hypothetical threat assessment whose premise is explicitly disputed. Reliance on VLS for every task can therefore distort an estimate of the force required.