When the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford deployed for the first time in October 2022, analysts expressed concern that the $13.3 billion behemoth was dead on arrival. Standing nine stories above the waterline, complete with a five-acre flight deck and capacity for four squadrons of fighter jets, the ship instantly became the largest and most expensive to ever sail—a formidable platform projecting American naval superiority and American naval vulnerability.

Despite all of her technical prowess, Ford is faced with a harsh reality: over the last two decades, China’s hypersonic missile technology has far outpaced America’s. Beijing has “the world’s leading hypersonic missile arsenal,” according to a December 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Defense—and it only takes one successful anti-ship missile strike to destroy even the most powerful floating air base.

In the event that China makes an amphibious landing on Taiwan, which experts expect will take place by 2027, China’s suite of hypersonic missiles “can take out our 10 aircraft carriers in the first 20 minutes of a conflict,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth[1] said in a November interview that has recently resurfaced. “China is building an army specifically designed to destroy the U.S.,” Hegseth continued. China has developed powerful weapons to destroy U.S. Aircraft Carriers. The effects could be devastating.

[1] « Hegseth: Chinese hypersonic missiles could destroy U.S. carriers in minutes » By Bill Gertz – The Washington Times – Wednesday, April 16, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/16/pentagon-chief-believes-chinese-hypersonics-could-destroy-us-carriers/

Read more on October 1st, 2025.