coolieno99 said:
It's not necessarily that simple.... Spy satellites operate in low earth orbit, round 100-400 miles up. Their orbital path is very predictable and they need time to position themselves in order to see which swath of the ocean.
Then there is a problem of response time. Say you see the Carrier strike group at point A with your satellite, how long do you think you can fuel, arm, assemble, fly to your launch point, and fire your missiles? By the time it takes you to get within optimal firing range of point Athe carrier is no longer there. Remember a carrier can move 500 miles a day. If your strike is seen by an E-2 well before, the carrier group commander could plan for a silent sam trap, F-18 ambush, or both. Also, lurking SSN's could launch TLAM's at the airbases thereby affecting bingo fuel issues (bingo fuel = is when you only have enough fuel to return home) by forcing the airstrike to return to another airbase, which could be further.
Attacking a manuevering and fighting Carrier Group with a competant commander is not that easy.
