What is the geopolitical importance of aircraft carriers

in contemporary global security and power dynamics.

The aim here is to understand the usefulness of the aircraft carrier as a military tool in the
service of a state. We will come back to its use throughout history. It appeared logically to
cover certain military or strategic needs, but even goes beyond the purely military-strategic
framework. The aircraft carrier is a tool that can be found on the American side, which are
the masters in the field, but also on the French and Russian sides, not to mention of course
China, which maintains a growth rate of its maritime capacity.

History of the aircraft carrier :

For the historical part, the aircraft carrier draws its heyday from the 2nd World War on the
Pacific front which opposed the Empire of Japan to the United States. At the end of the war
in the 1950s, atomic weapons were imposed in the Cold War and delivered from long-range
bombers, these bombers and their autonomy directly call into question the usefulness of the
aircraft carrier which could have disappeared at that time. But it was this same Cold War, and
in particular the Korean War and the neutralization of US Air Force airfields, that put aircraft
carriers back in the spotlight with its firepower and autonomy. The aircraft carrier became
the strong symbol of the United States throughout the Cold War, it was the hammer that
struck the adversary when diplomacy failed.
Aircraft carrier in diplomacy :
From a legal point of view, sailing through international waters, offers direct flexibility
towards its objective and allows for the bypassing of secondary and lengthy agreements or
negotiations. It is the perfect tool for international crisis management. Strategically, it has
also become a central element in the command body of armies, with usually the role of
flagship of the naval group assigned to it. The aircraft carrier is also a diplomatic tool.
«War is the continuity of diplomacy by other means» as Clausewitz said. Consequently, the
army is also a diplomatic tool that makes it possible to weigh in international relations.
Nuclear weapons being of course the supreme asset, the aircraft carrier thus acts as an
intermediary without going so far as to dissuade. It is precisely its more conventional
character which makes it a diplomatic tool. If everyone can express doubts about the use of
nuclear weapons that can be disproportionate to the objective of the state. None will be
done on the use of a naval group with as central core an aircraft carrier capable of moving all
over the globe and being able to hit a target with conventional weapons or not.
Synonymous of power :
An aircraft carrier is a prestigious tool for a nation. To own one is to raise your Navy to a
higher rank, that of being able to project air forces via the oceans. An aircraft carrier is also
synonymous of a powerful Navy, indeed an aircraft carrier requires a naval group that
ensures its protection during its mission, its missions being missions of projection, it is
therefore necessary for the navy in question to be able to support the movement of several
vessels, to ensure their full autonomy, operation and command several thousand kilometers
from the mother country. In other words, an aircraft carrier is useless for a country if its Navy
does not have deep-sea vessels, that is to say, capable of sailing on the high seas for several
months and has means of defence against sub-sailors, anti surface, anti aerial electronic wars
etc. To move an aircraft carrier is to move a floating base and must therefore ensure its full
functioning but also its safety. The arrangement of one or more aircraft carriers is therefore a
prestigious tool that derives directly from technological know-how and military capability.
This prestige is reflected in other countries, one would almost say that the aircraft carrier is
in fact a politico-military tool.
We see for example that China multiplies aircraft carrier constructions and strongly mediates
this tool. In France the Charles-de-Gaulle gives an unusual prestige and is the most famous
centerpiece beyond the Navy, the French armed forces. An example that will reflect the
aircraft carrier as a prestigious tool with Thailand which acquires in 1997 an aircraft carrier
ordered from Spain. The Royal Thai Navy was the first Navy in Southeast Asia to have such a
vessel. Of course the reality has caught up with the Royal Thai Navy, the aircraft carrier too
expensive requiring too much training, too dependent, even the state of the Navy of country
did not have the capacity to protect it.
When we look more closely at the countries that have aircraft carriers, we find the most
powerful navies of war. A small distinction has to be made between the aircraft carrier and
the small aircraft carrier which some countries have. The small aircraft carrier has limited
action capability and is in charge of supporting mission more than performing deep missions
with an often smaller flotilla. It is dedicated to aircraft with vertical take-off and landing or
even used mainly as a convertible helicopter carrier, as is for example the case for the small
aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy.

A controversial tool :
The aircraft carrier is also a contested tool. As in the post-World War II years, it is now being
challenged from a military point of view but also and above all from an economic point of
view. Militarily, the evolution of ballistics and the potential of cruise missiles capable of
neutralizing an aircraft carrier from a Corvette seriously challenges the supremacy of the
aircraft carrier.
Missiles and corvettes can have a much lower and less risky gain-loss ratio than an aircraft
carrier and its flotilla. This is the doctrine of the mosquito fleet that often stems from a
limited budget and an inability to produce and guarantee the operationality of an aircraft
carrier. This doctrine is at the limit of asymmetrical maritime warfare, and involves the
multiplication of small-tonnage vessels, which are easier to produce and more economical,
carrying increasingly efficient cruise missiles.
The best example of this is of course the Russian Navy, which, due to a lack of a substantial
budget for its surface fleet, has decided to temporarily rely on missile systems for their
ballistic effectiveness.
Conclusion :
But the long-term objective for a power with maritime ambitions remains the ability to
project itself far and long, a capability concentrated around the aircraft carrier but
increasingly in competition with smaller vessels that are increasingly efficient, versatile and,
above all, economical. Despite its contradictions, the aircraft carrier remains an undeniable
symbol of prestige and remains synonymous of a powerful and technologically advanced
Navy for the country capable of possessing, maintaining and using it.