I think we're at a point where the value of a traditional aircraft carrier is questionable (for the cost), and likely to decrease in the coming decades. A smal

I think we're at a point where the value of a traditional aircraft carrier is questionable (for the cost), and likely to decrease in the coming decades. A smaller, possibly submersible craft that could launch and catch drones would probably be able to replace carriers in a variety of missions at vastly reduced cost. Pilots can be offloaded to military bases; launching/catching systems can be as powerful as the drones can be engineering to support, for shorter landing and takeoff distances; required storage space is less, crew is less, and cost is less for drones. DARPA has already done a little work in this direction - http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/darpa-develops-system-launch-retrieve-large-drones-travelling-speed-midair-1605298 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/darpa-develops-system-launch-retrie...