Because You Asked...

The article is titled Can Aegis Stop China’s Carrier Killer Missiles? Since Defense Tech is asking the question...

“We’re constantly looking at the evolution of our Aegis BMD capability to keep pace with threats,” said Lisa Callahan Lockheed’s vice president in charge of the Aegis program during a Jan. 5 phone call with reporters. “While I can’t talk specifically about the capabilities we have against specific threats…we are definitely working to evolve our system to keep pace with the threats as they evolve.”

Callahan refused to comment when pressed on whether the current Aegis BMD system can protect against the DF-21D.

Wonder how long it will be before we come up with a way of defending our carriers from this system?

The answer is, not yet. What you are looking for is AEGIS BMD 5.1 in the 2016-2018 time frame. If that isn't soon enough, then you have a problem. I don't think there is a problem.

2012 brings AEGIS BMD 4.0.1. The good news to date is that AEGIS BMD is very mature, and has traditionally been on cost and schedule. The very nice thing about the later versions beginning with AEGIS BMD 5.0 (2014-2016) is that AEGIS BMD will scale to the entire AEGIS force.

By 2020, the entire Arleigh Burke destroyer class will number somewhere around 70+ built or building, and will have the potential capability to engage targets under the sea, on the sea, over the sea, deep into land, and in space. The Arleigh Burke destroyer is on pace to serve the US Navy effectively for a period longer than even the Iowa class battleships with a potential service across the class of 70 years based on current plans.

There is a catch though. The Arleigh Burkes are likely to go through their magazine of missiles pretty quick in wartime. Additionally, the Navy has a serious shortage of missiles, so not only will they be used quickly but there are currently very few spares. To compound that issue, the Navy doesn't have a reliable way of reloading an Arleigh Burke even if there were spares. The reloading issue is one Congress has repeatedly raised with the Navy in testimony that has been largely ineffective in prompting the Navy to do something about it. Finally, the Ticonderoga class cruisers, which can carry more missiles than the Arleigh Burke destroyers, will be getting long in the tooth by 2020 and no replacement for the cruisers has been announced yet.

So there are serious issues with dealing with a DF-21 threat, but they aren't issues like AEGIS capability, rather the issues low on everyone's radar like the current small missile stocks and the absence of a reload capability.