I have read a lot of speculation here over the years that perhaps such staples of warfare such as aircraft carriers, tanks, and even manned fighter jets might be becoming obsolete.
China want the chip fab in Taiwan. Move it to Texas.
I would also tend to agree with the speculation. A large enough drone swarm is pretty hard to stop, if not impossible.
Unfortunately this will just educate China to not export drone tech and to militarize it more for themselves. Missiles are missiles but 10K drones coming at you... when they are AI coordinated... Not good.
When everything can be handled by a missile, warfare gets easier.
It all depends on which type of fight you get into and who you are fighting with, but yeah, all of those things are in some way obsolete.
Tanks have been obsolete in force on force battle since the late 1970s. Aircraft carriers have never been tested in modern force on force battle, but they will most certainly lose.
The only reason we have pilots in fighter (actual air to air fighter) aircraft anymore is for career advancement.
They won’t become obsolete, but will change beyond recognition.
Aircraft carriers, in particular, need to be replaced with a group of smaller boats where the loss of one is at a lower cost. vTOL or other tech to replace a big landing strip needs to be perfected.
Human fighters will become drone directing platforms.
I would think in a world of satellites,drones and communications tracking large concentrations of of material or large craft are facing a rapid demise. Aircraft carriers provide a lot of support fighting an enemy that doesn’t have the ability to target them. The next large war will be hell on earth.
I’m former Navy and always felt like carriers were just a big target for a few fast cruise missiles.