AND IN THE REAL WORLD – AT 2:04 P.M. ET:  We make it a practice to remind readers that, while we're doing the federal budget, others are planning to do us in.  The Chinese, for example, are relentless in developing a powerful new navy, designed to challenge American supremacy in the Pacific, and cut us off from our Asian allies.  From asia.nikkei.com: 

BEIJING -- China will build its first nuclear aircraft carrier, a major step in its push to become a strong naval power, the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. noted in a statement posted online.

CSIC has developed vessels including nuclear submarines in the past. The aircraft carrier was revealed in a strategy document dated Tuesday, alongside plans to build more nuclear subs and unmanned underwater vehicles.

No timeline was given for building the vessel. But the document states that the Chinese navy needs upgraded equipment in response to growing maritime security threats. CSIC will supply weaponry to meet the navy's goal of expanding its far-offshore capabilities by 2025, the document says, suggesting the carrier is to be deployed by that year.

The Chinese Communist Party-run Global Times reported on the CSIC document Wednesday, calling it "the first time a state-owned Chinese defense company has openly identified nuclear-powered aircraft carriers on its agenda."

China launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier in 2017, after deploying the Liaoning, a retrofitted carrier from the former Soviet Union, in 2012. A second homegrown carrier is said to be under construction in Shanghai.

Some have suggested a nuclear propulsion system could be installed on a third Chinese-made carrier expected to be built in the northeastern city of Dalian. Nuclear carriers can sail for longer than their conventional cousins, giving them a tactical advantage. Hong Kong media have also reported that China plans to introduce a fourth homegrown carrier by 2030, which may also be nuclear-powered.

COMMENT:  This country began employing aircraft carriers almost a century ago, but the Chinese are moving very quickly.  Their new carriers will probably be home to drones as well as piloted aircraft.

Some will debate whether big aircraft carriers will be useful in an era where a hypersonic missile might cut through defenses and cripple even a carrier-sized ship.  But in conventional confrontations, and to demonstrate the ability to project power, there's nothing quite like a carrier.  I'd imagine the Chinese have prestige as well as power in mind.

March 24, 2018