In the future, aircraft carriers will be space ships, not naval ships. The aircraft will fly down from the carrier to conventional enemy airspace, then return to the carrier in space.
From what I know, that would actually solve some of the problems that current aircraft carriers are coming up against as enemy defense systems are currently evolving. I assume it would introduce some major new problems too, but I haven't checked the math. Anyway, it's a cool idea for a sci-fi story.
An aircraft which is running out of fuel can generally glide a fair ways before landing. It's rather difficult to gain substantial amounts of altitude that way. Even before that, an aircraft which intends to return to a low-orbit base needs more fuel in reserve, which means that ranges are shorter and aircraft are comparatively heavier than their ground-based brethren.
Nor is getting to "ground" from orbit free. You need to cancel your orbital velocity, or most of it, in order to manage a sustainable atmospheric re-entry. Sure, you can use parachutes later in the process, but they don't work in vacuum.
In the future, aircraft carriers will be space ships, not naval ships. The aircraft will fly down from the carrier to conventional enemy airspace, then return to the carrier in space.
From what I know, that would actually solve some of the problems that current aircraft carriers are coming up against as enemy defense systems are currently evolving. I assume it would introduce some major new problems too, but I haven't checked the math. Anyway, it's a cool idea for a sci-fi story.