Re: B-17 Wing Covering Thickness

Ask the Afghanis...seems to me will power has a bit to do with it.

Reply to
Rufus
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I agree also - what makes a "first rate" military power is that they win...until that test comes, you really don't know what you're dealing with.

Reply to
Rufus

Well than everybody in this debate is right because history says we fought the Chicoms to a stand still in Korea - notably w/o nukes and after almost five years of a severe post-WWII military emasculation that until the Korean War threatened to eliminate among other things, US naval aviation.

So gang when do we hit the next degree of separation from the skin thickness of a B-17? ;-)

WmB

Reply to
WmB

They are working on the airforce part too. They have made at least two large purchases of Sukhoi 27s or derivitives of same. In addition they have done something they have rarely done and bought a license to build their own Sukhois. I guess they figured it was worth the $$$ to avoid the years of work involved in reverse engineering the aircraft and it's systems. Things could get real nasty over the Formosa Straits if the little old men in Peking decide to do so.

Bill Shuey

Reply to
William H. Shuey

Not only that, but it provides the indigenous population with an industrial base - which is what I was decrying the loss of in the good old USA. While we are outsourcing, the "developing world" is insourcing...and not just garment and farm work, but strategic, tech jobs requiring the education of and industriallization of the populus at the same time...which brings me back to that "100 year economic plan" thinking of thiers...

Reply to
Rufus

Guys, my original question was about which potential adversary

*is* a first-class military power. In the meantime, the US force structure is hardly mired in cement.

We could talk about bullfrogs with wings all day...

First they have to build the landing craft. Then after they do that they have to successfully assault the beaches in the face of American, Japanese, Taiwanese, and God knows who else's opposition. Then, assuming they do manage to secure some kind of beachhead, they have to resupply it. Pretty tall order, IMO.

Reply to
Al Superczynski

You mean the Afghans a handful of Spec Ops troops and US air power defeated with the help of a bunch of other Afghans? Those Afghans?

Reply to
Al Superczynski

They could provoke a serious international incident with a hot rod pilot in a Shenyang F-8...

Reply to
Al Superczynski

I dunno. I guess they import all that oil just for the helluvit...

Reply to
Al Superczynski

I do. But I'll gladly read any source that claims Red China

*has* either a blue water navy or a first-class air force. Got one?
Reply to
Al Superczynski

Reply to
Al Superczynski

The Soviet dictatorship lasted about 70 years. So far the Red Chinese one is 56; what makes you think it will last another 14, much less 100?

Reply to
Al Superczynski

we could talk about me having to drive to mo this weekend and will the hl sale be going next monday? i really want to know.

Reply to
e

In article , big wrote: al wrote>Path:

danke

Reply to
e

No - the ones that sent the Russians back to Russia...

Again...I'd suspect the motivations in each case differ. And so did the outcome. That's one reason the outcome isn't always predictable.

Reply to
Rufus

and the "service" economy bullshit isn't working. we're not very good at protecting intellectual property.

Reply to
e

Jane's, Av-Leek...any of the defence industry trades. And some of the commercial electronic ones. Look at what's being bought, sold, and transported...and where it's going. And then pause to think about what can be done with it. *has* and *will have* are about the same thing to me...in the strategic sense. I don't like waiting around for the wake-up call.

Also - consider some of the low-tech alternatives to counter a high tech force...sometimes rocks and sticks win.

Reply to
Rufus

scary.

Reply to
e

Because from what I understand, Chinese communism is a completely different form of the institution from Russian communism. Not to mention that the sub-asian approach to and philosophy of life in general is of a different cultural bent than the classical Russian.

And unlike the Russians, I also don't think they give the slightest damn what the rest of the world thinks - so they will be patient and do as they will.

I'm also not saying that Chinese political views will not evolve - but I wouldn't hold my breath for them evolving beyond some altered form of what would still be considered communism within my own lifetime.

Reply to
Rufus

Funny, but it's also the intelectual propery that is the subject of most economic espionage...which has to make one wonder about the strategic impact of open-sourceware on defense tech...

Yeah - a "service economy" requires someone somewhere to become subservient on order to service it. Hmnnn...guess I've been living in the southwest too long.

Reply to
Rufus

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