We have it so we can apply power where we need to when we need to.

For example remember the war in Afganistan? The initial invasion part went pretty well and pretty fast right? And this was in a country all the way on the other side of the planet.

The reason we were able to do this was in part because of our carriers but also because we've got airforce bases in countries you probably haven't even heard of, like Kyrgyzstan, and we were able to launch from there and hit targets in Afganistan.

Same deal for all the recent conflicts we've had over on that side of the globe.

The also provide a closer place with really good medical facilities. Unless I'm mistaken we still send a lot of wounded to our facilities in Germany.

Another benifit of "being there" is in regional politics. That's why we were able to make Kosovo soverign, and why Russia is mostly calling the shots in Georgia.

I should also note that having an airbase near a target can be better than a carrier. Carriers are very nice at bringing our forces to a regional conflict. But there are a fair number of aircraft that simply cannot launch off of one of their decks such as F22s and Thunderbolts.


Finally they are seeing increasing importance in the area of missile defence. The best, possibly only, way to effectively stop a ballistic missile is to get it while it's on the way up. So if we want to have a chance to take down a missile from North Korea, Iran or anyone in the area we need to have a properly equipped base/ship nearby.