But the Chinese are using our own dollars to rapidly close the gap, and any new, capable system must be judged as an increased threat and cannot be discounted or underestimated, particularly in the China Sea/South China Sea region where they have significant land based air support and very short logistic lines.
Bear in mind that the Europeans-Germany,France,Italy & Britain are only inducting or going to induct ships with advanced radars-some of which are rated as better than the Aegis/Spy-1 combo.Don't rule out the PLAN getting those.You don't necessarily need to sell missiles with such systems.