India has as big an aircraft carrier as America is going to build a bigger war ship; How powerful will Trump-Class Ships be?

The US Navy is going to be more dangerous than ever. US President on Monday donald trump The US shocked the world by announcing plans for a ‘Trump-class’ battleship under its Golden Fleet Initiative. The first ship of this new ship will be named USS Defiant. There is a plan to prepare it in two and a half years. It is being said to be the ‘largest’ ship of this country. Besides, it also has the capability to carry ‘extremely dangerous’ weapons. Actually, Trump announced a plan to build a new generation warship for the US Navy. Who are known as ‘Trump-class’. After Trump’s announcement, discussions have started in India as to how more powerful these will be compared to Indian warships. Is India ready for this?

The US President announced this strategic plan while speaking from his Florida home. The new ‘Trump Class’ battleships will be built as part of a strategy to “maintain American military supremacy, revive the American shipbuilding industry, and instill fear in America’s enemies around the world.”

The purpose of the Trump Class Battle Warship is to stop and overtake China’s rapidly growing naval power in the sea. Russia’s hypersonic capability and America’s declining dominance in the Indo-Pacific have to be reversed. This is the reason why Trump-Class Ships are being seen as such warships, in front of which the preparation of any navy of today is considered incomplete.

100 times more powerful than till now battleship

Announcing the new warships, Trump said, “As you know, we desperately need ships. Some of them are old, tired, and useless, and we’re going in the exact opposite direction.” He then announced the ‘Trump Class’ warship and said that he would play an active role in its design. Trump further said, “The US Navy will lead the design of these ships with me because I am a very aesthetic person.” Trump has approved building two new battleships. There is a plan to make 25. According to Trump, “They will be the fastest, largest and 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.”

It is being told that the Trump class ships will also have a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, or SLCM-N, which is currently in development. The US President said that these ships will also be command and control platforms, which will oversee crewed and uncrewed platforms. Apart from this, the design will also have artificial intelligence driven capabilities. The weight of this warship will be between 30,000 to 40,000 tons. If Trump is to be believed, these warships will also be capable of carrying nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles. American steel will be used in this and they will be assembled by robots and humans.

According to a report in The Politico, the US Navy has long been struggling to build ships on time and within budget. Every naval ship currently under construction is behind schedule by at least a year. Shipyards have been struggling for years to hire and retain enough employees to work on their production lines.

Challenges to Trump’s warship plans

The first challenges are that there is no clear funding for this program in the current Pentagon budget, making it unclear when and how the work will begin. Moreover, defense analysts believe that Trump’s deadline of delivering new ships in two and a half years is very ambitious. Two people close to the project told POLITICO that given the lack of engineering plans for the ship, it would be nearly impossible to meet the deadline. According to The Politico, Courtney said, “There’s a reason the U.S. Navy stopped building battleships in 1944 and President Ronald Reagan’s fleet of 600 ships didn’t bring them back.” But despite these arguments, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the new ships would make future Americans indebted to Trump.

Trump-Class Ships – What exactly are they?

Overall, Trump-Class Ships is the name of a new, extensive and expensive naval project that claims to provide America with military and moral superiority at sea. These ships are in the news due to their size, weapons and technology and could potentially influence the direction of future naval capability.

Trump-Class Ships are a new class of heavy warships proposed for the US Navy, which are being designed as “Battleships”. These ships will be large, powerful and equipped with state-of-the-art weapon systems. This includes hypersonic missiles, electric railguns, high-power laser systems, nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missiles, these ships will be estimated to weigh 30,000-40,000 tonnes and will be equipped with very high technology, which are considered to be more powerful than existing warships.

The first Trump class battleship will be launched with the name of USS Defiant. Trump has said that the first two ships will be built. Our plan is to create a “Golden Fleet” of 25 such ships.

Why is Trump’s future battleship in discussion?

The announcement of Trump-class ships is in the news for many reasons. This is the ‘Battleship’ revival plan in America after almost decades. That category of warships which was considered less important after the Second World War. These ships are said to be 100 times more powerful, which is far ahead of the current fleet. They are named after President Trump, which is unusual and controversial.

The proposed weapons and technologies of these ships can change the nature of future warfare, such as hypersonic missiles and laser weapons which are different from the traditional maritime warfare thinking.

Along with this announcement, it is also in the news that the current US Navy is retiring some ships and changing some plans, which is a subject of debate regarding issues of strategic priorities and resources. Reviving the naval construction industry.

Why did America need this?

US President Donald Trump administration has called this project necessary for three main reasons. The first of these is to maintain the dominance of the US Navy in the sea and keep it equipped with modern nuclear, laser, rail guns and hypersonic missiles.

1. Maintaining global maritime dominance

Trump says that America needs to increase its power in the sea so that it can maintain the global balance of power and maintain diplomatic and military pressure against potential opposing forces.

2. Revive the naval construction industry

America’s shipbuilding industry has slowed for years. The Trump-class project is also being projected as a boost to domestic industrial capacity such as shipbuilding.

3. Preparing a fleet equipped with modern weapons

Incorporating cutting-edge technologies into ships will give America a claim to be ahead in military technology. Especially with hypersonic missiles and laser/railgun systems. Trump also says that with these ships the US Navy will be prepared against every possible threat and will be able to face future challenges.

Trump-class ships are compared to these

Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyers

These are the main US surface combatants today, but are relatively small and have specialized roles. The Trump-class ships will be much larger and more powerful than these.

Iowa-Class Battleships

The last large examples of American battleships were built during World War II. The Trump-class is seen as a modern version, but with more advanced technology.

Modern Aircraft Carriers

Such as the USS Gerald R. Ford-Class carriers primarily play the aircraft carrier role. Trump-class ships are designed for independent combat capability and strike power. Today, only China and to a limited extent Russia can pose a real challenge to America in the sea, the rest of the countries are allies or regional powers.

China

China is emerging as the biggest challenger to America in the way of battle warships in the sea. To a large extent, China is today posing the most serious challenge to America in the sea. China has aircraft carriers like Liaoning, Shandong, Fujian, Type-055 Destroyer. They are equipped with cruiser-like capability, 112 VLS missile cells, anti-ship, air defense system, land attack. Then China also has Nuclear Submarines (SSBN & SSN). This means that China has the ability to give direct competition to America in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Russia

Russia is a country with old but deadly power. He has few ships nearby, but they are extremely heavy and dangerous. Russia’s naval fleet consists of the Kirov-Class Nuclear Battlecruiser, the world’s largest surface combat ship, Hypersonic Zircon missile, Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier (limited capacity), nuclear submarines Borei and Yasen class. Russia’s real strength at sea is submarine warfare.

Britain

America’s ally Britain has two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. Type 45 Destroyers (highly advanced air defence), are Nuclear Submarines. They cannot challenge America but have equal maritime capability.

France

France has the strongest navy in Europe. France has Charles de Gaulle (Nuclear Aircraft Carrier), Barracuda class nuclear submarine, Blue Waterway Navy capability.

India (emerging power in the Indo-Pacific)

India has aircraft carriers INS Vikrant, INS Vikramaditya, destroyers Kolkata and Visakhapatnam class, nuclear submarine INS Arihant. India is not in a position to challenge America at sea, but its role is important in maintaining the regional balance of power.

Japan

Japan is a very technically capable power. It has Izumo-Class Helicopter Destroyers (Light Aircraft Carrier) and Advanced Aegis Destroyers. Japan has many constitutional limitations regarding becoming a maritime power, but it has technology similar to America.

north korea

North Korea has ballistic submarine and coastal attack capability. Germany, Italy, Australia, Saudi Arabia have modern navies, but the capability gap is huge.