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From: swilliam@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Williams)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Anti-Balistic Missiles Now
Message-ID: <1990Dec12.030935.9815@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 12 Dec 90 03:09:35 GMT
References: <1990Dec7.011307.474@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec8.221641.27118@cbnews.att.com>
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From: swilliam@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Williams)

>>If not, how does a carrier battle group defend itself from incoming warheads?
>
>It doesn't.  Nobody does.  Everybody has very abruptly woken up to the
>fact that such a capability would be a good idea.

Aircraft carriers have various "lines of defense" against anti-shipping
missiles:

    First line of defense is about 300 miles from the aircraft carrier;
       F-14 Tomcats shoot down bombers carrying missiles. Tomcats are 
       directed to enemy bombers by early warning aircrafts and ships.

    Second line of defense is about 100 miles from the aircraft carrier;
       guided missile cruisers shoot down bombers carrying missiles.

    Third, and last, line of defense is the CIWS (Close-In-Weapon-Systems)
       installed on aircraft carriers (and also other capital ships).
       CIWSs utilize Gatling machine guns to shoot down oncoming missiles.

Of course, the best defense is to destroy the airfields where the bombers
are based.  This is the strategy that Japan used in the Pearl Harbor 
attack; the first targets were the airfields.