The Soviets believed that this attack would only work if the missiles were launched within one minute. If they waited even two minutes, the Americans could reorient their defenses.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the Soviet Union was obsessed with America’s aircraft carriers. If the Cold War ever became hot, Moscow’s forces planned to launch massive air attacks against any American carriers operating near Soviet territorial waters. Specifically, the Soviet’s naval air force intended to launch a fleet of 100 bombers armed with anti-ship missiles, with the expectation that they would lose at least half of those birds during the strike on any carrier group.
Soviet strategists intended to saturate the air defenses of a carrier group by sending so many planes into the fray. The idea was to stymie and confuse the air controllers in the US Navy carrier groups, overburdening their sensors, and numbing the American air controllers to the profound sense of danger they were in. Soviet planners wanted the Americans to assume that most of the Soviet planes were decoys, when in fact all were fully armed.
The Soviet Union’s Anti-Carrier Battle Plan
It was believed that 12 anti-ship ballistic missiles could sink an American carrier. Of course, a single nuclear weapon could have the same result as those 12 anti-ship missiles—and by the time the Soviet Union had cause to sink American aircraft carriers, there could be no guarantee that nuclear war was firmly off the table. One way or another, the Soviets were serious about taking down the US carrier force if war ever erupted between the two sides.
The attacking Soviet warplanes would deploy anti-ship missiles from maximum range to force the US air controllers to fixate on those attacks. Meanwhile, two reconnaissance Tu-16 Badgers would breach into the very middle of the US carrier group to locate the carriers visually.
Once located, the reconnaissance birds would radio the precise location of the American carriers. The Badgers would immediately be lost—and the crews understood they were on a one-way trip.
With the American air controllers busily responding to the missile fusillade that the Soviet birds fired from beyond-visual-range (BVR), after having likely downed the two Tu-16 recon birds, the Americans would not be expecting an even larger missile attack from Soviet attack planes. Indeed, two or three Soviet strike groups would approach from multiple directions—all at differing altitudes—with the main missile launch being initiated by all the planes in the attack group, occurring at the same time.
The Soviets believed that this attack would only work if the missiles were launched within one minute of the attack. If they waited even two minutes, the Americans could reorient their defenses and potentially survive. In this scenario, time was the Soviet’s greatest threat.
Taken together, it was an insane plan. But it reflected the fear that American carriers once imbued in the minds of the Red military theorists.
Today’s Anti-Carrier Threats Are Far More Dangerous
Would the Soviet plan have worked? On paper, it is menacing. Of course, whether or not it would have succeeded in practice is suspect—but against a battle group with multiple carriers, it is highly plausible that it might have been able to sink at least one. And today’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems are far more complex and dangerous than the systems the Soviets were dealing with.
During the Cold War, American carriers could rest easy that crazy Soviet plans of the kind described above were their most serious threat. In the current age of warfare, American carriers are threatened as never before—and their defenses are lacking.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / vaalaa.
