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scream-of-consciousness; "If you're trying to change minds and influence people it's probably not a good idea to say that virtually all elected Democrats are liars, but what the hell."
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"If the number of Islamic terror attacks continues at the current rate, candlelight vigils will soon be the number-one cause of global warming. " |
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China is changing. Historically, China has never been a world power, it has been an inwardly directed regional power with no strategic reach.
Now, perhaps as a result of its improved economic situation and the ownership of huge blocks of foreign debt, China appears to be changing centiries' old habits. They're building an aircraft carrier. Strategic power projection requires carrier battlegroups. Not since the early Ming Dynasty have the Chinesae sought to develop a blue-water navy.
The Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) is reorganizing to be a smaller and more professional fighting force. The PLA Air Force is modernizing as well. The Chinese are are engaged in a manned space program.
This is a change-in-course from centuries of regional isolation. As the Chinese have said, "We are cursed to live in interesting times."
Brigadier Major Mike
Barn Army Historian
The photo that was released of the Chi-com stealth was done for their propaganda means. First, stealth technology came from the Soviet Union. Since they put all their money into a huge air defense network, they passed on the stealth and it made its way through a physics organization to Ben Rich. Next issue, there are two stealths, active and passive. While the shape of a stealth plane is responsible for a great reduction in radar footprint, there is also an active element to stealth, where an ecm black box basically tells the radar its not seeing anything. The shape of an airframe will not change the disruption in the air, which is picked up by pulse doppler radar like on an F-15. I know a retired F-15 driver who had a stealth come by him on the Iranian border in DS. He was on a late night mission looking for MiGs and had every sensor turned up to max. The stealth went by and nothing moved. "I don't know whats in that thing, but there's no way it's the shape of the plane". No idea if the Chinks have active stealth, that would be the jist of the matter.
This chicom thing has exposed engine nozzles and straight lines on all the airframe panels, gimme a break. Its a cheap chink knock off of US tech 30 years ago.
As far as carriers, the greatest threat to a carrier that is pretty much indefensible is the Russian supercavitating torpedos with a tactical nuke tip. 200 kts 70 feet under the sea, nothing you can do about it.
Personally, I see China about to emplode economically, their economy is based on foreign companies choosing to be in China. Since Chinas slave labor force wants to be middle class, their cost basis is rising and their edge is ebbing away. This is all window dressing, "what bubble, no we don't have any bubbles"....tic, tic, tic, -Anymouse
Hope you're right.
The PLA is moving toward quality over quantity -- change over past policy. The ChiComs have been stealing and copying technology for years and their newly enhanced economic situation is allowing advances in military spending not seen before.
There is a Chinese real estate bubble that may already burst. Reports of vast real estate developments remaining empty have surfaced here in the US. The wealth developed over the past few years is highly concentrated along the Pacific coastline while the interior remains relatively unchanged.
Many contrasts are present in the PRC. We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss their developments as so many "...chink knockoffs...". Conventional wisdom in the 1930's stated that Hitler's panzers were made of cardboard and that Japanese fighter planes were 2nd-rate copies of Western designs.
Never underestimate your enemy.
Brigadier Major Mike
Official Barn Army Historian
The more I look at that Chinese stealth the more it looks like a tar-baby. It's clearly laughable as any kind of modern technology. Why? If its really posturing, it's truly pathetic. They are not that backward. Anymouse again.
The flic I see [shopped?] doesn't have pylons. What, they carry .45s and gun ports?
Internal weapons' bays to improve the stealth profile, perhaps?
Brigadier Major Mike
Anymouse:
Way back in 1969, my destroyer had just received several major upgrades to our radar systems before deploying WestPac. We were operating off the West Coast with an Air Force EB-47 conducting tracking tests with our search and tracking radars. The operator on the EB-47 would tell us on the radio link what mode he was engaging and disengaging (using CM codes to frustrate the ever-present Russian "trawler" always nearby) and we would document the effectiveness of the technique he was using--chaff, spread spectrum jamming, broadband jamming, noise saturation, spoofing, whatever.
We had a solid track on him with four radars--two search and two different tracking radars. The operator said he was engaging CMXXX and ALL of our radars lost track--there was just nothing there!! We engaged every mode we had to acquire the target and...NOTHING!!!...
When the operator called that he was disengaging CMXXX IMMEDIATELY all four radars were tracking him.
Remember, this was way back in 1969. I know because I was one of the maintenasnce techs on the primary search radar, and worked closely with the missile radar crews.
I can only speculate as to what the military has now...and if the DemonRats have sold it to China...yet.
Hairy Nosed Wombat.
Good Stuff Wombat.
Too cool for school!
A stealth RB-47!?! Ha! I'd loved to have seen that. The basic B-47 was one of the most beautiful jets ever designed.
Wish I had stories like that.
Brigadier Major Mike
Word is that MTBF of Chink jet engines is about 30 hours.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick
@Tailgunner Dick -- The Soviets figured that the life of their combat aircraft would be very limited during a war with NATO. So they decided not to make their jet engines that durable because they'd get shot down anyway.
The have a similiar problem with their T-72 tanks.
Brigadier Major Mike
I try to follow what is going on at the various milblogs. The thing is it is like that ancient saying. "Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak."
The Chinese have been using Russian engines for their base designs and the Russian engines have constantly lagged in Mean Time Between Failure, they accept that despite the labor costs in frequently swapping out engines. but also in thrust to weight ratios. The current Western world designs require long life spans for commercial use and very tricksy materials and design to run hot with minimum bleed air for cooling for military use.
"The Russian supercavitating torpedo"
SUNK THE KURSK!
They never recovered!
They passed it on to the Iranians!
(Need to be suicidal to play with it!)
late to the party. I thought Toadold was going to say what I had to say, but stopped short. The ChiComs uses to licence a certain russian mig to build but eventually they canceled the contract half way through and shortly after announced a "new" Chinese plane that looked the same as the russian one that they had just canceled. Here is the thing though, the Chicoms couldn't figure out how to make engines so they still buy them from the russians. If they can't master building an engine, I doubt they can master the technology of stealth. They may say it is stealth but it will just be a poorly disguised stealth.
I think this thing was leaked to show how inept captain 0 is on defense since he has canceled orders for the F-22
sparrowhawk of gont
used*
PD radar on an F15 detecting disruptions in the shape of the air!?!
Wrong-O.
F15 radars are small lightweight units designed to see ... fighters. That are made of ...metal.
Not "disruptions in the air".
You get damn few radar signals reflected from the dust in the air and zero from oxygen and nitrogen and CO2.
And no airborne platforms are capable of sorting "disruptions" from ground clutter and actual airplane reflections and sun spots and on and on...
20 Years of AWACS misery talkin' here boss...
"And it's 1, 2, 3 what are we fighting for? Don't ask me I don't give a damn..."
Whoopie we're all gonna die. Unless 2012 hurries up and gets here, and it turns out to be aliens who will force peace upon us.