The US Navy’s crucial Naval Station Norfolk has just been detailed by China’s Taijing-403 radar imaging satellite, underscoring its cutting-edge space-based intelligence capabilities and dazzling surveillance capabilities.
The images show three US aircraft carriers, two Arleigh Burke- class warships, and four unidentifiable vessels, The National Interest ( TNI ) reported. Norfolk is one of the US Navy’s most critical foundations on the US East Coast, which supports 75 boats and 134 plane with 14 bridges and 11 airfields.
The Taijing- 4 03 is reportedly owned by the government and a “five-satellite constellation,” which is intended to be used for clinical research and ecological surveys. It has AI processors and synthetic aperture radar ( SAR ) for quick identification and target identification at sea and airports as well as real-time image transmission.
China has previously used AI to enhance significantly the capabilities of its commercial satellites, enabling them to become powerful intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ( ISR ) assets.
Asia Times reported in April 2022 that China had installed AI in its Jilin-1 commercial World study dish, which makes it a powerful spy tool, with a 95 % accuracy rate for small things, seven times higher than the geostationary previous technology.
Moving objects are said to be tracked by AI even if they twist sharply or vanish into a tunnel. Traditional satellite AI assumes it lost track of a target and loses only 14 % of its success rate when analyzing satellite video.
The new AI tracks a moving target based on the most likely direction it would take and estimates the direction it will take based on experience. The AI is able to recapture the target as soon as it reappears, and it performs even better from space. By 2025, China plans to launch the entire constellation of 138 Jilin- 1 satellites in orbit.
A Chinese AI-powered satellite tracked and detected the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier during a state transit drill off the coast of Long Island, New York, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP ) in May 2022, giving Beijing real-time location data.
According to the SCMP report, the satellite’s AI could quickly identify military assets with the least amount of computational resources. It says that despite limitations in space, including processing power and harsh conditions, Chinese scientists have made breakthroughs in AI “weight reduction” and chip resilience.
In a February 2023 Epoch Times article, Mike Fredenburg points out that these capabilities indicate that China can now scan vast areas of the ocean to automatically identify and identify ships, provide real-time targeting data to missile launch facilities, and significantly strengthen its ability to maintain the “kill chains” necessary to attack carriers and other warships at sea.
Fredenburg points out that China’s rapid advancements in both the quality and quantity of its imaging satellites demonstrate its civil-military integration ( CMI ) and military-civil fusion (MCF ) goals through the development of advanced dual-use technologies.
He points out that while the US has more satellites in orbit than China, US satellites are typically older, with many of them nearing the end of their useful life. In contrast, he says that China’s satellites, while fewer in number, are newer, more capable and designed with specific military uses in mind.
Such ISR capabilities would be vital for China’s strategic anti- access/area- denial ( A2/AD ) capabilities, which would deter US and allied intervention in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Researchers from the North University of China conducted a simulation in which China sunk the USS Gerald Ford and its escorts in May 2023, according to Asia Times. The simulation involved a three- wave attack with 24 missiles, resulting in the depletion of the US fleet’s interceptor missiles.
Two types of hypersonic missiles, with ranges of 2, 000 and 4, 000 kilometers, were fired in three waves. The simulation also made clear the potential effects of hypersonic weapons on naval warfare and the significance of ISR capabilities in missile attacks against significant naval combatants.
These developments involving satellites have sparked debates about the utility of aircraft carriers in near-peer conflicts in the future. In February 2023, Asia Times reported that space-based ISR and hypersonic weapons may have rendered aircraft carriers obsolete, even though they are still being constructed for political and political reasons in both the US and China.
However, the Russian cruiser Moskva was sunk by Ukrainian anti-ship missiles in April 2022, which demonstrated how vulnerable large warships are to anti-ship missiles. As evidenced by satellite images of mockups and impact craters at its Taklamakan test facility in Xinjiang, China has been using hypersonic missiles to attack US aircraft carriers and warships along those lines.
China’s expanding capabilities may cause the US’ multibillion-dollar carriers to assume fewer combat roles in permissive operational settings. That may also raise important issues with defense policymakers regarding the justification for building a few expensive but incredibly fragile warships.
The aircraft carrier concept may still exist, albeit in a different way, given that the need for a mobile airbase is still relevant.
While the US has considered creating “lighting carriers,” which are smaller carriers that can be built more quickly and significantly and carry 20 combat jets versus a supercarrier’s 50 or more, they may be just as vulnerable as their larger counterparts and face an offense-defense conflict.
Another way to disperse an aircraft carrier’s capabilities would be to use low-cost, disposable drones with various payloads to equip more naval combatants.
Tyler Rogoway claims in a recent article from The Warzone that the US Navy’s ability to increase its ISR and strike capabilities could be greatly improved by adding numerous small, long-range drones to their fleets.
Rogoway claims that adding bolt-on common launch tubes ( CLT) to existing Ticonderoga class frigates, Arleigh Burke destroyers, and upcoming Constellation class frigates to increase a warship’s combat flexibility and capabilities is a cost-effective option.
However, aging Ticonderoga cruisers and the Arleigh Burkes ‘ maxed- out condition may make such upgrades impractical.  ,
Alternatively, he notes that the ships ‘ vertical launch systems (VLS ) could be used to launch drones. A strike- length Mk 41 VLS cell holds 24 drones in a quad- pack configuration, potentially giving an Arleigh Burke destroyer nearly 100 drones with just four VLS tubes.
According to Rogoway, these drones can be used both defensively to counteract threats and offensively to hit targets long range, making them a useful addition to the ship’s arsenal.
He points out, however, that a faulty drone in a stack configuration may prevent the rest from launching while a malfunctioning drone may take away valuable VLS for more powerful weapons.