A Chinese space-aeroplane, which is simliar to NASA's latest X-37B, has claimed to have its first flight successfully last year, according to state-owned news source in China reported yesterday:
Looks like cold-war/arms race II has begun.
Posted on 01/09/2011 3:28:04 PM PST by Allthatucantleavebehind
U.S. Will Counter Chinese Arms Buildup
“I’ve been concerned about the development of the antiship cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job,” he added. “We knew they were working on a stealth aircraft. I think that what we’ve seen is that they may be somewhat further ahead in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had earlier predicted.”
Mr. Gates said he hoped his talks with Chinese leaders would reduce the need for more American weaponry in the Pacific. He also said that if Chinese leaders considered the United States a declining power because of the financial crisis, they were wrong.
“I’ve watched this sort of cyclical view of American decline come around two or three times, perhaps most dramatically in the latter half of the 1970s,” Mr. Gates said. “And my general line for those both at home and around the world who think the U.S. is in decline is that history’s dustbins are filled with countries that underestimated the resilience of the United States.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A Chinese space-aeroplane, which is simliar to NASA's latest X-37B, has claimed to have its first flight successfully last year, according to state-owned news source in China reported yesterday:
Looks like cold-war/arms race II has begun.
Yeah, we might send a squad of homos to whine at them.
Oh, they have MUCH MORE than that to make them consider us a declining power.
Bejing is a perfect target - explain that to the Chinese. One A-Bomb no more Bejing.
Next idea...?
So is LA.
Next idea...?
Øbama will take care of this as soon as he gets home from his 4,857th vacation.
Why would China nuke part of Mexico?
Sorry Mr. Gates, but bad analogy. The 70's had Reagan around the corner to fix the "hollow Army" and the deteriorating Air Force and Navy.
Gates has set America on the path to a second rate military. We will soon be at as much a disadvantage with adversaries like China as we were in the 1930's with Germany and Japan. And no Ronald Reagan is there to ride to the rescue.
If we are lucky china will nuke CA anyway.
And yet Gates just advocated a $78 billion defense budget cut, and has consistently and persistently opposed funding new ships, new aircraft, new you name it. Thanks Allthatucantleavebehind.
This one is easy...much easier than the first one.
The Chinese can't even build a jet engine that works reliably...or a rifle that should <1MOA.
Nothing they do is "precision".
Effective missiles and fighter aircraft are all about precision.
The Chinese nuke force is less capable than Britain, Israel or France.
While they are building some land-mobile ICBMs...they only have about 20 in service that could reach a West Coast city. They have about another 20 liquid-fueled ICBMs that could reach the US but they take about an hour to fuel and are thus simply targets.
And, if you stick your ear to the ground you can hear their nuke subs scratching around in the Yellow Sea.
From what is know now we could either preempt Chinese nuke action...or shoot down the 10 or so missiles they send toward our West Coast.
While the Chinese have potential, the don't have the necessary skills to pose an existential threat to the US.
However, the US could eliminate them as a country in about an hour.
I resent that. There are MILLIONS of good conservatives in CA.
Do you wish death upon 38million of your fellow citizens?
In your expert opinion do you feel our nuclear sub fleet is still preeminent, and thus far unaffected in terms of ouright cuts and/or failure to upgrade technology, by the Commie Commander in Chief?
I have always viewed them as our ultimate trump card.
Judging by this rate, the probablity is high that China will pretty much match everything the USA military will have technology-wise by 2020. And I agree with you, this cold war won't last long, since neither sides want to sell their own blood and bones for a hollow "military superiorirty" title like the Russians did back then. I expect this time, when one of the two sides, figures out that there is no chance to win the arms race, they will simply give up and accept as a second-rate power more gracefully, rather than bankruptcy like the USSR. Thus I would expect this cold war will last about ~20 years (e.g. before 2030) to has a clear winner, and I certainly won't place my bet on the US of A.
Yes, still preeminent.
that's not to say we haven't been hurt by cuts or that our fleet is not aging.
It DOES say the the Trident Fleet of 14 Boomers (3 of which are at sea a ready to launch at any time) and the now converted 4 SSGNs are the most effective Strategic Deterrent in the world today. I sure hope we're fixin to lay the shell of the next generation soon because some of these boats are 30yrs old.
One of the 3 SSBNs can carry 24 missiles with a 7,500mile range and each of those missile can carry up to 12 W88 warheads (475kt, or 50 times bigger than Hiroshima) 288warheads x 50 = >15,000 Hiroshimas.
There has never been a failed launch of a Trident missile from the time the first one became operational. They've been tested over 30 times.
Additionally, it's STILL the quietest SSBN on the planet and quieter than everything other than a few of DE boats and US Attack boats.
We also have the proven technology to get launch orders to them while they are submerged and on patrol.
One mission of Gates’s visit to Beijing is trying to settle a deal with China on nuke weapon development.
I certainly wouldn’t be very sure that China only have 10 or so warheads can reach USA as of now, like some of the military fans here would rather to believe.
This is especially considering the fact Gates want the nuke deal; the scale of China’s military research and spending; the rate of China’s convential weaponary productions as well as the accuracy of the information gotten by the US intel, or rather the lack of it, on the military issues on China.
chicom bump for later.......
Rubber coating on a bird that has a similar shape to the F-22 does NOT a Raptor make. Ours are in service.
Radar, ECM, Targeting & Tracking software and superior armament does.
Looking at these birds one can see little more than targets...their ass-end gives it all away.
Our existing Eagles would have no problem with these guys.
Thanks.
Much appreciated.
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