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Lightning Carriers: The New Capital Ships of Asia
Mr John Bradford Adjunct Senior Fellow
Mr John Bradford
1
The USA recently forward-deployed USS America to Japan. With a complement of F-35B Lightning aircraft, she is being called a “Lightning Carrier.” Japan is converting its Izumo class ships to also be Lightning Carriers. The ROK recently stated intent to build an even larger 40,000-ton Lightning Carrier. The Royal Navy has revealed desire to make their second Lightning Carrier, USS Prince of Wales, a permanent presence in Asia. Finally, there are rumours about Australia and Singapore, both F-35 partners, considering developing similar capabilities. It seems that Lightning Carriers will soon be the new capital ships of Asia’s Navies.
Theme: | General / Country and Region Studies / Non-Traditional Security / Regionalism and Multilateralism |
Region: | East Asia and Asia Pacific / Southeast Asia and ASEAN |
Entity: | IDSS |