Posted on 02/14/2003 4:27:31 PM PST by vannrox
Edited on 07/12/2004 4:00:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Russia delivered the latest batch of advanced SU-30MKK fighter bombers to China within the past month and additional jets are on the way, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Russia's arms exports used to be public. But under pressure from Beijing, Moscow agreed to keep secret its major weapons systems transfers to China.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
You know, that's what we thought of more than a few islands in the Pacific.
The fortifications were most likely there, you just didn't (literally) trip over them (which is how you'd find them).
I believe they are capable of building many, many more of those type vessels in short order if they plan it out in advance and have the infrastructure in place to do so.
We are helping them establish that infrastructure.
Given what we know of their overall plans from documents that they themselves have produced, we must presume that they are preparing to carry out those plans ... the development of such infrastructure is a necessary comnponent of such plans.
And this is not to mention the many hundreds, potentilly thousands of commercial vessesl they would force into service in such an event.
I address all of this in my book series ... albeit from the fictional standpoint of the scenario presented in the story.
We underestimated the method the Japanese intended to fight in a number of cases ... but we bombarded the hell out of what we thought was there.
My father was personally, directly involved as an officer with a flotilla of LCI's.
Ultimately the Japanese spent less time on immediate shore forticifcations and more time on inland fortifications where they could maximize their attrition of our forces once they landed. That happened over and over in the Pacific. Tarawa was one significant departure from this ... but in most others their after-the-beach plans were carried out to significant effect ... albeit in almost all cases they suffered much higher casuality rates than we did and neither method prevented the inevitable.
Taiwan, in a simialr fashion, has spent much more on inland fortifications in the mountains (2/3rds of the island is very mountainous). No doubt, Taiwan will be a tough nut to crack and hold. The very attempt by the Chinese, requires that we not be there to interfere as a given and that is the principle point IMHO.
Key word bolded. I've been to Okinawa and Iwo Jima; you can see bunkers that we never knew were there until YEARS later. A friend of mine found one the hard way in 1986--he stepped onto dirt supported by rotting logs, and his weight plus the dirt's weight was too much. Got himself a busted leg for his trouble.
No doubt, Taiwan will be a tough nut to crack and hold. The very attempt by the Chinese, requires that we not be there to interfere as a given and that is the principle point IMHO.
The problem here is consequence management: WTF do the ChiComs do if they take their best shot...and miss?
China's military has held the largest maneuvers of its Dong Hai No. 7 exercises so far, with tens of thousands of militiamen mobilized to augment regular troops in amphibious landing drills along the southeastern coast, defense sources in Taiwan said yesterday.The tens of thousands of militiamen are the cannon fodder to soak up whatever the ROC has ... the regular troops follow after the appropriate level of attrition is achieved.The militiamen and an unknown number of civilian ships were the key elements of a series of intensive amphibious landing drills on islands off Fujian Province, mainly Dongshan island, during the last week of July, the sources said.
The Chinese military did not send a large number of regular troops to participate in the drills, they said.
This incongruity between the PLAN amphibious sealift capacity and the planning requirements for an invasion of Taiwan is likely behind the drafting of civilian cargo ships into auxiliary service. The difference in actual versus required capacity alone explains the study of commandeering cargo ships, and it may well explain the research into arming them as well.Sounds like its right out of the pages of Dragon's Fury
In that series, I have the Chinese developing and building thousands of cheap, throw-away LCM's and augmenting them with hundreds of commerical conversions ... which they arm.
You're correct--additionally, there are signs that the further one gets from Beijing, Party control of the military becomes more theoretical than real.
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