Many people on this board will pretend not to be aware of what's in this article and still criticize me when I say I do not trust the Russians and that we should not partner with China as they are an even greater long-term threat than the fundamentalists. Pay attention folks... the Russians have also implied they'd be willing to contribute bombers capable of carrying nukes to the "defense" (that is, BEIJING'S DEFENSE!) of Taiwan.

I would imagine there is a bunch of stuff that is tucked away that no one has heard of.

I would think they would have started development way back then, but who knows when it was completed.

We had the SR-71 BlackBird in the 1960s. That was 40 years ago...

No telling what we have now...

Its time for the CCP to go.

Why is Russia willing to fight for the CCP against Taiwan?

Or are they just selling weapons for financial gain?

India and China are Russia's two biggest customers...

Politically does Russia favor the CCP over Taiwan?

Here is what I think: Russia wants to sell weapons so, they do that.

Next Russia might not want a break-up of the PRC because it could lead to problems and mass immigration to Russia from China.

"Soviet" Shipwrecks and Sunburns have indeed been around for a while. Bear in mind they have to make trade-offs to carry the large warhead at supersonic speeds, specifically range, manuverability, and stealth/survivability. Our Block 2 SAMs on a variety of platforms have the capability (and now software) to ID, target, track and kill high and low-flying supersonic targets, espcially those with the RCS of a Shipwreck or Sunburn. Also, the Block-2s can be targeted against a surface vessel, lethally, at high-supersonic speeds at ranges exceeding that of the Sunburn and Shipwreck. Point being-- instead of having to wait for a high-subsonic Harpoon or two to finally get there, the SM-2 can do the job in moments ... Plus, with a blanket of ECM, the Russian/Chinese missiles can be made to miss at all but point blank firing ranges.

Enjoy.

That is what I thought about too. Money is what it is all about.

What about social unrest in China? Is Russia worried about that? I mean the Russian people.

CCP in China is crazy. They are a pain in the #%$@. I think Russia knows this already.

The CCP has many factions in it. Some are ok to deal with. Some of those militant people are lunatics.

bump

Mass immigration to the Russian Far East has already started...and despite protests by some honorable public servants Moscow seems to care as much about the Far Eastern part of their country as they always have, so little has been done and people from NE China continue to come in. If the Russians think they have a lot at stake in Chechnya, they're going to be in for a big surprise and will probably be able to do little before Boxer Rebellion II reaches the outskirts of Vladivostok.

And the Russians are idiots for contributing to any Chinese efforts to establish a blue water Navy -- think about when the Chinese economy reaches the size of OURS or exceeds it -- they'll be able to outbuild any Russian presence in the Pacific. Even if that were to force the U.S. and Russia into an alliance, one day they might be able to challenge us both - the potential is there, it's just a question of whether we can continue to out-innovate and out-spend them. Russia is not helping, and this will bite her in the backside.

The NEW COLD WAR has begun!