The People’s Liberation Army Navy currently fields the largest fleet across the globe.

As Beijing continues to expand its naval might, Washington is working to field superior defense products. From fighter jets and stealth bombers to next-generation main battle tanks and aircraft carriers, the US military plans to introduce unparalleled equipment across the board over the next decade. Last month, reports revealed that senior US officials were weighing a potential new warship platform dubbed the “Golden Fleet” to further these aims of military dominance. The Wall Street Journal first divulged that the White House and Navy officials were collaborating on potentially fielding a new fleet for the service equipped with top-tier offensive strike capabilities and unmanned platforms meant to deter China and other US adversaries. This “Golden Fleet” project is certainly ambitious, and only time will tell if this proposal will be seriously considered.

Meet the “Golden Fleet”

Designed as modern-day battleships, the Golden Fleet boats would be unmatched in size and weight if they come to fruition. Specifically, the next-generation warships could weigh as much as 20,000 tons when equipped with the capability to carry hypersonic missiles and other weaponry in larger numbers than the Navy’s current destroyer classes can lug. This size would make the futuristic warships much larger and more heavily armed than the service’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

According to Bryan Clark, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and a retired Navy officer, who was a part of the Golden Fleet discussion, the ultimate purpose of these next-gen destroyers would be for armament power. “The reason we went to battleships in World War II was to get to that longer-range cannon,” said Clark. “I think here we’re just saying, ‘well, in the missile age, this is what we need for longer range, it’s these big missiles.’ And so this battleship of tomorrow is going to be this thing that carries really long-range missiles.”

Would China’s Navy Outmatch the Golden Fleet?

While the Golden Fleet idea will face many roadblocks, ranging from already prominent shipbuilding delays to financial woes, the concept is a direct reflection of China’s naval build-up. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) currently fields the largest fleet across the globe, operating 234 warships. The US Navy, comparably, operates 219. In addition to developing a greater quantity of sea-based assets, Beijing has also developed long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles like the DF-21D and DF-26, which pose direct threats to the United States. These “carrier killing” missiles can reportedly carry out both conventional and nuclear strikes against ground and naval targets. That could mean land targets like US bases in Guam or warships like a Ford-class aircraft carrier. As detailed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “The DF-26 employs a ‘modular design,’ allowing operators to rapidly swap nuclear and conventional payloads in the field. A new model of DF-26 TEL appeared shortly after the DF-26’s 2015 debut with a hinged, separate warhead cover, potentially to facilitate warhead-loading operations. These payloads are typically housed in a finned, biconic maneuvering reentry vehicle (MaRV), similar to the warheads featured on China’s DF-15B, DF-21C/D, and DF-16 missiles.”

If fielded, the Golden Fleet concept could serve as one way to tackle China’s growing weapons arsenal and warship fleet.

About the Author: Maya Carlin

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.

Image: DVIDS.

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