... the question is whether or not the U.S. still has the power to interdict the shipping lanes. MileHi wrote:
Do you doubt we do?
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I worry a bit. China possibly has the ability to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier with hypersonic missiles from space (15,000 MPH at impact; many times faster than a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle).
As far as I can tell, the Pentagon is only at the very beginning of a procurement program for autonomous (self-firing) A.I. controlled directed beam weapons to defend against this.
In addition, China has geared their military program to defeating the U.S. battlefield communications systems which make our "Network-centric warfare" functional. Trump's people have been trying very hard to catch up with the Obama neglect, but I don't think we're there yet.
In terms of air power, we may have over-reliance on F-35 for example. Even if it is the greatest fighter plane in the world, we only have 12,000 of them ... versus 350,000 warplanes the U.S. fielded in WWII, and an unknown (but potentially FAR LARGER) number of warplanes (designs stolen from us of course) and drones which the Chinese may use to potentially overcome our superior (presumably) technology.
The U.S. is finally looking to close this gap in numbers of warplanes with large quantities of jet-powered autonomous fighting drones which can accompany F-35s or F-15s ... but this gap will take several years to fill.
Knowing how fast Trump is correcting the weaknesses actually makes China more likely to strike sooner rather than later, especially if they start to realize Trump will be re-elected.
I suppose our submarines still rule the day, but it is not nearly as secure a proposition as it was a few short years ago.
And none of this even takes into account the traitors in U.S. government who will try and thwart any strong actions which Trump or any other President might wish to take. So there's that to worry about too.
It is MUCH harder to attack, much less sink (or mission kill) a US aircraft carrier than you would think. The Chinese have three problems. They are (a) targeting, (b) air defense, (c) Electronic Warfare. They are not so good at (a) and we are the best in the world at (b) & (c).
Yes, the Chinese have missiles which can harm our carriers but that is a step too far unless they are set on all out war with us and our allies. There is no significant difference between firing a missile at a carrier or Cleveland. Actually, we might take shooting at the carrier more seriously.
The Chinese must also consider how the Indians, Japanese, South Koreans, Taiwanese, and Australians would react. They also know that if they start shooting, that is the last oil they will be importing for a long time. Their economy is already on the ropes and even limited hostilities would only make it worse.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)