[spetznaz]

After some thought i concur that i was oushing the performance envelop of the missiles the Chinese (especially the quantity they have) to the max! I doubt the Chinese would emply a 'hail Mary' tactic like launching half their current stock of missiles at a single ship.

Thus i guess i was kind of assuming the Chinese smoked some opium and blew their wad foolishly!

However that leaves the question as to why the Clinton adm. was pushing for the cancelletion of the Vandal? I know the usual reply on FR (which may be true) is that the dudewas a Chinese-figurehead ....and the actions of Clinton do seem traitorous! However was there any valid reason for him to try to get rid of the Vandal?

[Poohbah]

However that leaves the question as to why the Clinton adm. was pushing for the cancelletion of the Vandal?

The cancellation move probably came from BELOW the Clinton level.

Basically, we didn't spend enough money on the military (given what we were demanding of it) after 1991. (Yes, I fault Bush on this one.)

There were multiple competing priorities, and lots of target drones wasn't one of them. (My understanding from talking to the fleet types is that Vandal is reusable.)

However was there any valid reason for him to try to get rid of the Vandal?

It probably came about from the habit of looting procurement accounts to pay for operations and maintenance (the M8 Buford, essentially a light tank for airborne units and "light cavalry," got cancelled to pay for the initial deployment into Bosnia).