An aircraft carrier provides a mobile base for operating, rearming, and maintaining aircraft. Its usefulness therefore depends on the continuing need for aircraft, including uncrewed designs. Carrying a 2,000-pound bomb over a useful distance still requires a substantial airframe, even when no pilot sits aboard it. Air-to-air refuelling can extend a sortie, but the aircraft must still return somewhere for weapons and maintenance.
Chapter · 2:22-3:36
Why mobile airfields still matter
Crewed and uncrewed aircraft both need weapons and maintenance, preserving the carrier's role as a mobile aviation base.