Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
American Mad Man,
Hehe, you continue to undestimate the potential adversary...
I do not - I am not saying the US will not lose any aircraft, or that no one will doe on our side - but facts are facts. Chinas AF doesn't stand a chnace in all out war. They can't compete with outdated aircraft and undertrained pilots. For example, their new fighter - the J-10 - is a DOWNGRADED replica of a US aircraft that is currently being replaced (F-16). The air war would be over a few weeks after we got our airpower to the combat zone. And like I said - their airfields would be destroyed in a week or two by cruise missles. You cant't fly if you can't take off.
You seem to be under the impression that our planes can waltz right into Chinese airspace and all would be good. That is absurd. It's not like China will be oblivious to our invasion. They have the defense and they are a nation that can clearly see an invasion coming, since it would come from the sea mostly anyway. And the long distances traveled by combat aircraft would give it away even more. So your "destruction before they leave the ground" arguement is irrelevant, because the Chinese are not blind. They will clearly see an attack coming. Sure, they may be less competant, but the U.S. going in with strike packages and extensive fighter escort will have their hands full against Chinese aircraft that will literally fill the skies. Airpower would be stretched VERY thin pretty soon.
Hehehehe - I think you don't understand that in order to "see us coming" you have to have ground and airbased radar. Well, most of their ground radar would be hit by cruise missles before our planes entered their airspace, and - as I said - their aircraft can't match up in a head to head battle. Their "aircraft that will literally fill the skies" will just be a turkey shoot. They don't have nearly the BVR capabillity of US aircraft, so they would be shot down before they had the abillity to engage.
Your "they would build more stealth planes" statement is real laughable. It's a war! When do you think they would have the time or money to build more stealth planes (do you even realize how many you would need to fulfill the commitment) and then send them into combat? It's not even possible since the costs of the war would be insane without stealth aircraft.
In case you don't know what happens during war, read up on WWII America. EVERYONE in the country is either fighting, or building things for the war. The money? currently, our US military buget is around 400 billion (I believe). We have the abillity to make it over 1.2 TRILLION like we did in the 80's during the cold war. Money isn't the issue - the US has the most of it. Also realize that during a war, more orders of aircraft like the F-22 would be made. If they ordered 700+ like they originally planned (and in a war with China, they'd order more) it would cost roughly the same as an F-15. The reason for the high cost of aircraft is that the US orders very few of them. The B-2 cost 2 billion because they ordered 24 instead of the planned 125. If they would have bought 125, they would cost not much more then a 747. So much for stealth being more expensive.
Even if you were talking about before the war, since when can the U.S. military spend at will? Aircraft procourment takes a LONG time. It took the U.S. Navy 13 years just to get all the Carrier Air Wings F/A-18s. Imagine the time it would take to produce and distribute the amount of stealth fighters we'd need just for air campaign(s) against China. It just is not smart to do something like that (especially to prepare for a single war). And I doubt the U.S. government would delay the war just for more stealth fighters.
Do you even realize the enormous cost of even the most primitive stealth combat aircraft? Please prove me wrong.
OK, I will prove to you that you are wrong. When the government signs a contract it is for a certain amount of money. This usually includes R&D costs, and the original amount of planes wanted. When the gov. decides it doesn't need that many aircraft (to save money on upkeep) the bill stays the same, they just get fewer aircraft. The more you buy, the less expensive they are. Basically in all out war, every aircraft contractor in the states (you know, lockheed-martin, boeing, Northrop ect ect ect) would be pumping these babies out as fast as they can instead of one company using just one factory. US would have all the aircraft it would need. Besides - you do realize that the US military plans to be able to fight TWO MAJOR conflicts at once. I don't think 1 would be a problem. This is not to say I think a war with China would be easy - far from it. But the airwar is preatty much over befroe it starts. It is the ground war that would be the problem.
[Edited on 21-4-2004 by American Mad Man]
