[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Cruise missile capabilities are well-known, but can someone tell me how a (conventionally-armed) ballistic missile could possibly hit a rapidly moving aircraft carrier?

[RexBeach]

A fleet carrier can do what? 40 plus knots at flank speed?

But could a carrier group outrun or evade a missile traveling at ballistic speed?

Do not answer, please, if answer requires classified info.

[RC one]

“Supporting the missile is a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles that can locate U.S. ships and then guide the weapon, enabling it to hit moving targets.”

ASBM are bad news for the US Navy. The loss of even one carrier would be devestating. This is something we need to deal with.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

When you can control flight and direction at 10,000 MPH, hitting a 5 acre target traveling at 60 MPH is child’s play.

The days of the carrier group are rapidly coming to an end. They were predicated on complete air superiority (needed to protect the ships). As new ways to make air superiority irrelevant are developed, the carrier group becomes more and more vulnerable, and eventually becomes as useless as a battleship - vulnerable to attack by everyone, slow, and actually a hindrance to battle.

[Tallguy]

Theoretically this could be a devastating weapon. The big problem that I see in using Ballistic Missiles of this class for tactial strikes is that it makes nuclear escalation more likely. How is the US supposed to know that a particular DF-21 is carrying a non-nuclear payload? I suppose you could wait till the thing goes off, but that's not how nuclear deterrence is supposed to work.

[fso301]

Cruise missile capabilities are well-known, but can someone tell me how a (conventionally-armed) ballistic missile could possibly hit a rapidly moving aircraft carrier?

The carrier can only manuever a certain amount in a given period of time.

I suspect the intent is to fire the missles in salvos and bracket the ship.

[Jim Noble]

I have always thought ballistic missiles would be the Achilles heel of the supercarrier.

In a real war, they would be attacked with nukes delivered by suborbital projectiles.

[Carry_Okie]

but can someone tell me how a (conventionally-armed) ballistic missile could possibly hit a rapidly moving aircraft carrier?

Machine vision.