Aircraft Carriers Are Sitting Ducks

[Layzeebeaver]

40. It's taken me awhile to pull this together in a manner that folks can consume...

Also, I've pasted stuff from multiple sources, apologies for formatting issues.

U.S Carrier group defending against (CM02-type for example) supersonic anti-ship missiles...

Step 1) Find it early (so you can shoot it earlier)
- Use E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: airborne early warning / battle management; helps cue the group’s air and missile defence picture.
- Aegis Combat System on cruisers/destroyers: integrates sensors and weapons for fleet air defence.

(In wargame terms: “if you don’t detect/track early, every later layer gets harder.” I'm an old wargamer, so apologies if I get way to technical here)

Step 2) Outer “hard-kill” layer (the long arm for the Carrier group defense, so to speak) This is typically executed by Aegis escorts rather than the carrier itself:
- SM-6 (Standard Missile-6): multi-mission interceptor used for air defence, including against anti-ship missiles.
- SM-2: the US Navy’s primary surface-to-air fleet air-defence missile; also positioned as part of layered defence vs aircraft and missiles.

(Exactly who-shoots-what-when is obviously scenario dependent; but the point here is: area defence lives on the Aegis ships.)

Step 3) Middle “hard-kill” layer (point/ship self-defence missiles)
- ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile): explicitly designed to counter supersonic manoeuvring anti-ship missiles as a ship self-defence weapon.

Step 4) Inner “hard-kill” layer (last-ditch physical kill)
- RAM / SeaRAM: point-defence missile system originally intended primarily against anti-ship missiles.
- Phalanx CIWS: gun-based close-in system described as the last line of defence against anti-ship missiles.

Step 5) “Soft-kill” layer (decoys + electronic warfare) Keep in mind that this step is not actually "step 5", it's in play from the very beginning!
These sit alongside every hard-kill layer because making a missile miss is as valuable as shooting it down:
- Nulka: an offboard active decoy designed to “seduce” modern anti-ship missiles away from the ship - MK 53 Decoy Launching System (DLS)
- AN/SLQ-32 EW suite (and SEWIP upgrades): provides EW functions, including interfacing with decoy launchers and supporting ship self-defence.
- Mk 36 SRBOC chaff/IR decoys (often controlled via EW suite) are commonly discussed as part of the same defensive ecosystem.

So... if Iran had a CM-302-class missile, the challenge isn’t the warhead — it’s getting a high-speed missile through a carrier group’s defence-in-depth: E-2D + Aegis for early warning and long-range shots (SM-6/SM-2), then ESSM in the mid-layer, then RAM/SeaRAM and Phalanx up close — all while EW and decoys like Nulka try to break the missile’s terminal guidance.

Hope this helps everyone gain a bit more understanding...

EDIT: Sorry, one other thing to add. When folks say the missile can "weave" to avoid being hit, please keep in mind that this speaking of the "terminal Phase" when the missile is undergoing its final phase of flight - this weaving is typically not occurring during the transit phase of the flight.