How big a cloud of disruptive to airpower volcanic ash would give China a green light for attack.

Does anyone know how big of a cloud it would take to render the American air advantage useless?How big an eruption and how long it would take for the atmosphere to reach a saturation point where they were vulnerable to a massive conventional attack?



[edit on 30-4-2010 by one4all]

If such a large cloud of smoke and ash would immobilize the armed forces here, the Chinese forces would face the same conditions here. So, if we were paralyzed and couldn't mobilize, what would make them fare any better? Their planes are no more immune to ash and such than our planes are.

reply to post by one4all


ok - first off attack what ? - tiawan ?? the CONUS ?? the spratay oil feilds ?? somewhere else ??

second - if ALL aircraft are grounded - that will affect the chinese baddly too - as they cannot use airmobility to outflank positions etc

LASTLY - in a war the ` acceptable risk ` - esp of stuff like this is totally different to peacetime ops / training

if the ashcloud would , for example - reduce engine life to 10 hours - then they would fly - if they thought that the mission would secure victory

there is no point having your planes and airfeilds over run / captured destroyed by not flying -

even if the mission has a 10% casualty rate from dust induced accidents -0 and all the planes come back needing new engines - its possibly worth it - if the enemy is desimated

I think you give China waaaaay too much credit for its military prowess. When was the last time you saw China at war with anybody?

Hell, in WWII, tiny Japan could have whipped China, if they hadn't decided to engage America in the greatest naval war ever seen.

Even with stolen and gifted technology from the West, China has yet to mount a viable man-in-space program — they're decades behind the West in high technology.

Most youngsters today — who have no grasp of China's technological/military power or lack thereof — will opine that China owns the West because they have bought up much of the West's debt and because we farm out so much industrial work to them. This is malarky. More than malarky, it's a horribly skewed perspective on the reality of China's power.

China buys up Western debt because it has the money to do so from taxing nearly a billion borderline-poverty-stricken taxpayers a few dollars each on a regular basis. China takes on so much of our outsourced manufacturing because they pay their workers one or two dollars a day, and they have hundreds of millions of borderline poverty-stricken workers. American business loves it because they can outsource the manufacture of the same crapola for pennies on the dollar.

To top it off, China really has no indigenous products for trade — they mainly buy stuff from the USA and Europe, but they don't generate that many homegrown products for export. See, all the crap products that are marked "Made In China" are actually designed and marketed by Western companies who are merely using China's manufacturing capability.

Without the West, China wouldn't have any products to manufacture. Which makes China kind of a useful parasite on world trade.

If China is known for anything in the business world, it's for stealing copyrighted and trademarked products and producing bootleg copies of them. You name it. Everything from bootleg designer jeans to toys to MP3 players, to name just a few items. All stolen ideas coupled with inferior production standards.

And China's military is most widely known for either stealing technology from the West or for attempting to buy influence in the governments of other nations (such as the USA, particularly under the Clinton Administration). China's military is kind of a hodgepodge of old conventional weaponry with polished-up exteriors. That's China's idea of weapons development — a new coat of paint and a wax job.

So, I wouldn't worry too much about big, bad China waiting for a crucial moment to ambush the West. Without the West, China would slip back into the Dark Ages.

— Doc Velocity





[edit on 4/30/2010 by Doc Velocity]

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
I think you give China waaaaay too much credit for its military prowess.

aaahhhhhh, ummmmmmmm
do Ninjas count ???
i think they're pretty cool
and def worthy of a prowl
or at least a purrrrr

lol

The ash cloud that grounded all the air traffic in Europe was not as severe as initially believed.

The U.S. carrier based war planes would not have to fly at elevations the commercial airlines fly.Commercial airlines fly at high elevations to take advantage of the jet stream.

Military planes and pilots don't care about that they want to evade radar so flying that high would be pointless.

Just glad to hear that someone has considered this scenario,from a tactical standpoint.

Sometimes knockout punches are thrown by opportunists who may not hold but can certainly take the championship belt.

Originally posted by boondock-saint
aaahhhhhh, ummmmmmmm
do Ninjas count ???
i think they're pretty cool

Ninjas are Japanese, and are, indeed, quite cool.

The Chinese don't really have a Ninja equivalent, as most of their martial art forms were developed by monks and peasants who had to defend themselves against the Chinese warlords.

The Japanese Ninjas, on the other hand, were developed by warlords to assassinate other warlords.

— Doc Velocity

Doc you obviously don't know anything. Let me set you straight.

1. Technology - In many areas China's technology rivals the US. Take a visit to Shenzhen - leading manufacturers are pioneering technology and selling it back to US companies. The buyers? 3M, Apple, HP, Cisco, etc. Yes TECHNOLOGY companies.

2. Military - In terms of military technology China is still many years behind the US - but catching up fast. China took a man into orbit with less than a fraction of the US budget. China manufacturers most of Boeing's aircraft components. China's aerospace and naval technology is quickly narrowing the gap. And a little off topic, but if it came down to guerilla warfare I will take my Norinco Mak-90 over my Bushmaster AR15 anyday.

3. Economics - your statement obviously shows you know nothing about economics. China buys US Treasuries in order to maintain their currency peg with the US dollar by recycling the massive dollar surplus that is the result of a trade imbalance. This has nothing to do with taxing their people.

4. Business - You obviously don't know much about business either. China designs and equal if not greater share of products than their US counters parts. Lets see Iphone, HTC, most DLP projectors, netbooks, streetlights, LED lightbulbs. Sorry buddy - all designed and manufactured in China. Your comment about MP3 players makes me laugh. Name me one PMP chipset that is actually designed in the US, I will name you 10 higher quality ones designed in China.

Doc - have you even been to China? Stop thinking about China as the american media's version which is really the China of the 80's. Visit there - I guarantee you your paradigm will shift.

China is a very real threat to the United States economically, politically, and militarily. Start recognizing the problem before you can solve it...

Originally posted by Doc Velocity

Originally posted by boondock-saint
aaahhhhhh, ummmmmmmm
do Ninjas count ???
i think they're pretty cool

Ninjas are Japanese, and are, indeed, quite cool.

The Chinese don't really have a Ninja equivalent, as most of their martial art forms were developed by monks and peasants who had to defend themselves against the Chinese warlords.

The Japanese Ninjas, on the other hand, were developed by warlords to assassinate other warlords.

— Doc Velocity

Martial arts originated as a mesh of Indian and Chinese fighting techniques solidified before the time of Christ. Japanese history is at best 1200 years old. Seriously your ignorance and obvious animosity towards everything Chinese is laughable. I hope you are an expert in at least one or two subjects because you clearly don't know much about anything.

What's up with your animosity towards China anyways? Did you lose your $50 /hour union job welding steel pipes because your boss figured out that a $2 chink can mix intert gases, select arc temp, and draw a bead just as well as you? LOL


[edit on 6-5-2010 by jr429]

Originally posted by jr429


Doc - have you even been to China? Stop thinking about China as the american media's version which is really the China of the 80's. Visit there - I guarantee you your paradigm will shift.

I have to give these sentiments in most China threads. It's a wonderful place.

app 3 feet, by 14 feet by 13 feet

If Yellowstone erupts, that question won't bother you at all.
Russia and China are fully capable of first strike right now, having all the space weapons - spirals and pyramids. But they don't want to, for various reasons. I don't know for how much longer. Perhaps until August 2010 if nothing happens beforehand. Such as ET disclosure or Rapture, or CERN time shift to another era. or all of that one after another.