US 'Golden Fleet': Built to Impress Investors, Not Survive Reality
RT reports on the US Navy's 'Golden Fleet,' arguing these multi-billion-dollar aircraft carriers are 'built to impress, not to survive' against modern hypersonic missiles. A valid concern, given that the Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), cost taxpayers a cool $13 billion – and that doesn't include its air wing or escort ships. While RT focuses on Russian
missile capabilities, they gloss over the domestic incentives: the colossal budgets poured into defense contractors like Huntington Ingalls Industries, which gets billions to build these behemoths, regardless of their actual battlefield efficacy. One might wonder if the objective here is actually national defense, or securing lucrative contracts. The military-industrial complex, as Eisenhower
warned, isn't in the business of building 'survivable' fleets at the lowest cost; it’s in the business of building *any* fleet at the highest cost, ensuring a steady flow of taxpayer money into corporate coffers and, inevitably, into political campaigns. Perhaps the real 'golden' aspect of this fleet isn't its combat readiness, but the financial payload it delivers to its builders.