U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers Vulnerable to SS-N-27 Sizzler Anti-Ship Missile?

http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1116

DefenseReview readers may remember an article we published on September 16, 2007 about our aircraft carriers being vulnerable to attack by our enemies and/or potential enemies employing/deploying the latest supersonic cruise missile and supercavitating torpedo technologies being developed by the Russians and shared with countries like China, India, and Iran. Even before that, in November 2006, we'd published an initial article on the threat posed to the U.S. Navy by the latest Russian and Chinese anti-ship weapons. Well, on March 19 (2007), WorldTribune.com published an article on China's purchase of Klub-S 3M-54E / SS-N-27 Sizzler subsonic/supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles from Russia. Then, on March 23, Bloomberg published their own piece on China's Sizzler missile purchase and the U.S. Navy's lack of a solid plan to defend against it, more specifically to defend our aircraft carriers against it.

The Russian-made 3M-54E/SS-N-27 Sizzler subsonic/supersonic anti-ship cruise missile currently being employed and deployed by China, and, it seems, Iran, can be launched from both submarines and surface ships (and possibly aircraft).

Orville Hanson, a 38-year U.S. Naval weapons systems evaluator calls Sizzler a "carrier-destroying weapon." "Take out the carriers'' and China ``can walk into Taiwan," he says. No kidding.

While we like to consider ourselves optimists here at DefRev, we predict that China will get Taiwan back within ten (10) years, and quite possibly in as little as five (5) years. We hope we're wrong, but it's most likely really up to China, and how determined they are to take back the island. If they really want--and it seems that they do--they'll probably get it, since they can most likely sink our aircraft carriers at will.

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The following excerpt is from Bloomberg:

"This is a very low-flying, fast missile,'' said retired Rear Admiral Eric McVadon, a former U.S. naval attache in Beijing. ``It won't be visible until it's quite close. By the time you detect it to the time it hits you is very short. You'd want to know your capabilities to handle this sort of missile.''

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The kicker is that some of China's Sizzler missiles are reported to be nuclear-tipped. Yeah, the story just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

What if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons technology, and can tip their Sizzlers with nuclear warheads?

Bottom line, we'd better get our act together, pronto.