Chinese military superiority?

[FrodeMk3]

Ok, first, here's the news link:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070929/ap_on_re_as/china_military

Now, this hasn't stated overall dominance, in every aspect, but it infers that they are quite close, at the moment. Their technology is mostly bought from other sources, such as russia, but they seem to be serious about having a military that can control east-asia.

This is, of course, oppurtunism on China's part-they've taken advantage of our situation in the Middle east to catch up to us.

[Dadano]

Our positioning in the mid-east is the trump card. If we can control the flow of oil out of the region, we can control the Chinese and their ambitions.

[storch]

three gorges dam boom wal-mart boom

[Nilsen]

Russia can still feed oil to China... not that it matters at all. Nobody will ever do anything to stop China in any way.

[crockett]

Originally posted by Nilsen
Russia can still feed oil to China... not that it matters at all. Nobody will ever do anything to stop China in any way.

Russia doesn't have enough oil to feed china's need. As far as China's military, it might be big, but they can't transport it like we can. So they are still mainly a regional threat in regards to a ground force.

[Nilsen]

So far they cant, but they are working on it. For China to get oil wont be a big problem. They can get it from Russia or via Russia. All they have to do is pay for it, and as long as the rest of the world keep feeding them money that wont be a problem.

No worries tho. America and China will never go to war anyway. The finanical implications for both because of the global economy will put a stop to that.

[Stoney74]

What a ridiculous display of self-agrandizement on the part of the Air Force General.  As always, they display a better nose for fighting on Capitol Hill than on the battlefield.

Somebody's pissed he can't re-carpet the O'Club...

[Halo]

The Air Force general is right on the mark in keeping people aware of China's growing military strength.  U.S. air power is taken for granted but it is the result of decades of experience and intelligent application of hard lessons learned militarily and politically.

Many Air Force planes are older than the pilots who fly them.  Like great old cars, they can't last forever although current renovations are unprecedented (e.g., bombers and tankers flying more than 40 years).  

Can you tell I'm retired Air Force?  The U.S. Air Force is a fabulous organization, one of the best in world history.  

[Ripsnort]

As long as Russia turns out crap like this, we don't have to worry about what systems the Chinese buy from the Russians.

http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Analyses_12/Silence_in_Syria_Panic_in_Iran.shtml

Syria's Antiaircraft System Most Advanced In World.  Syria has gone on a profligate buying spree, spending vast sums on Russian systems, 'considered the cutting edge in aircraft interception technology.' Syria now 'possesses the most crowded antiaircraft system in the world,' with 'more than 200 antiaircraft batteries of different types,'  some of which are so new that they have been installed in Syria 'before being introduced into Russian operation service.' While you're digesting that, take a look at the map of Syria: Notice how far away Dayr az-Zawr is from Israel.  An F15/16 attack there is not a tiptoe across the border, but a deep, deep penetration of Syrian airspace.  And guess what happened with the Russian super-hyper-sophisticated cutting edge antiaircraft missile batteries when that penetration took place on September 6th. Nothing.

El blanko.  Silence.  The systems didn't even light up, gave no indication whatever of any detection of enemy aircraft invading Syrian airspace, zip, zero, nada.  The Israelis (with a little techie assistance from us) blinded the Russkie antiaircraft systems so completely the Syrians didn't even know they were blinded. Now you see why the Syrians have been scared speechless.  They thought they were protected - at enormous expense - only to discover they are defenseless.  As in naked. Thus the Great Iranian Freak-Out - for this means Iran is just as nakedly defenseless as Syria.  

[FrodeMk3]

For those of you who take an interest, and want to see more about what the general was refering to, check this out:http://www.sinodefence.com/default.asp

[AKIron]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
As long as Russia turns out crap like this, we don't have to worry about what systems the Chinese buy from the Russians.

http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Analyses_12/Silence_in_Syria_Panic_in_Iran.shtml

Wow! Where're the Russian military equipment is superior defenders? Probably paddling up denial.

[evenhaim]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
As long as Russia turns out crap like this, we don't have to worry about what systems the Chinese buy from the Russians.

http://www.ocnus.net/artman2/publish/Analyses_12/Silence_in_Syria_Panic_in_Iran.shtml

pwned:D

[Stoney74]

Originally posted by Halo
The Air Force general is right on the mark in keeping people aware of China's growing military strength.

What he's doing is using the Chinese military growth into scaring members of Congress into pressuring the DoD into reallocating budget money.  The Chinese had the largest military expansion in the world beginning in the '90's.  This isn't some sort of revelation unique to this guy

Many Air Force planes are older than the pilots who fly them.

So?  Welcome to the U.S. military.  Every service is using legacy gear.  There are Marine Corps helicopters getting shot up in Iraq that are still carrying battle damage from Vietnam.  Heck, the Air Force, by its own design, has decided to keep flying the BUFF until 2040 or something like that.  Bottom line is that I'd rather have 30 year old F-15's flown by U.S. pilots than brand new ones flown by the Chinese.  

Can you tell I'm retired Air Force?

I respect your service and opinion.  However, as a former Marine and one who's had to do more with less in the past, I think the Air Force is spoiled.  As a commander, if you have needs or concerns, you let your chain of command know, not the newspapers.

[crockett]

Regardless of equipment, what has always set our military apart from any others, is our training and strategies. We didn't always have the best equipment in ww2 but our soldiers still did what had to be done and did it well.

The screw ups in Iraq are not our military's fault and IMO don't show a good example of our military power. "Shock and Awe" was a prime example of our military might. Meaning the opening of the Iraq war, I don't think anyone can really compete with that. However we aren't a police force as our military is being used for today in Iraq.

China might be getting a lot of new stuff, but I still think ours is up to par, and our soldiers training will over come theirs. China also lacks the experience in any modern combat, so in essence their army and strategies are untested in a real combat environment.

It will also likely never be a fight directly with China. We will fight them, just like we did the Soviets via proxy wars. Iran might be the first, but I'm sure it wont be the last. We will at some point end up in Africa because of it's oil reserves.

Eventually Africa will gain the focus of our attention, just like the middle east is today. The difference there is China is already heavily involved in Africa, in countries like The Sudan and so on.

[Torque]

china by default, having 200 million people they could easily throw into a conventional war and no one would care.