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China Is Loving America’s Stealth Jet Freakout
* By Spencer Ackerman Email Author
* January 7, 2011 |
* 5:38 pm |
* Categories: Tactics, Strategy and Logistics
[video=youtube;mDV0b5ODlHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDV0b5ODlHM&feature=player_embedded#![/video]
another youtube of J-20
[video=youtube;3BzHjdIGqrA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzHjdIGqrA&feature=player_embedded[/video]
As the U.S. defense chief leaves for Beijing this weekend, some in China are busting a gut over how panicked American commentators appear over new Chinese stealth planes and anti-ship missiles.
Aviation circles are consumed with any and all news about the J-20, China’s first stealth jet. (You can have a lot of fun searching for “J-20″ on YouTube.) Its appearance on the internet coincided with Adm. Robert Willard’s public declaration that China’s carrier-killer missile reached the early stages of readiness. And with China starting to (maybe) build its own aircraft carrier, that’s got American defense analysts catching the vapors.
“Shades of 1939 are here again,†retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney wrote in a Fox News essay, claiming that the U.S.’s forthcoming F-35 will be no match for the J-20 — which so far only exists to the U.S. in the form of grainy photos. The only answer to forestall Chinese air hegemony? “nsert funding for 12 F-22s into the 2011 budget that is under a Continuing Resolution now while the F-22 line is still open — and keep that line going as a counter to this fast developing Chinese threat.â€
Vice Adm. Jack Dorsett tried to tamp down hyperventilation over the J-20 this week, while conceding that the new DF-21D anti-ship missile really is worrisome — as is China’s advancement in lasers, jammers, cyberwar and space.
All of that prompts a bout of smugness from China’s Global Times. “It is both natural and unnatural for the US to be concerned about China developing new weapons,†it editorializes. “Most powers wish that their superiority will last forever. China is growing up fast, and the US military edge over China is unavoidably shrinking.†The freakout will only be “dangerous for Sino-US relations.†If China could weaponize the sheer passive-aggression of this editorial, it would be the undisputed master of Asia.
Robert Gates’ China trip is designed to test whether there can be a more even keel to U.S.-Chinese military relations, after China suspended them last year to protest arms sales to Taiwan. For months, Gates has called for regularized mil-mil dialogue to reduce “miscommunication, misunderstanding, and miscalculation,†something Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has echoed.
Whether that’ll be the result of Gates’ trip remains to be seen. China’s smarting from its neighbors’ moves toward the U.S. — like Vietnam — in response to its aggressive 2010 regional posture. At the same time, Josh Rogin reports that Gates won’t get to see any People’s Liberation Army facilities that previous defense chiefs haven’t seen. But watch the Chinese laugh even harder if the U.S. hyperventilates over that.
* By Spencer Ackerman Email Author
* January 7, 2011 |
* 5:38 pm |
* Categories: Tactics, Strategy and Logistics
[video=youtube;mDV0b5ODlHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDV0b5ODlHM&feature=player_embedded#![/video]
another youtube of J-20
[video=youtube;3BzHjdIGqrA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzHjdIGqrA&feature=player_embedded[/video]
As the U.S. defense chief leaves for Beijing this weekend, some in China are busting a gut over how panicked American commentators appear over new Chinese stealth planes and anti-ship missiles.
Aviation circles are consumed with any and all news about the J-20, China’s first stealth jet. (You can have a lot of fun searching for “J-20″ on YouTube.) Its appearance on the internet coincided with Adm. Robert Willard’s public declaration that China’s carrier-killer missile reached the early stages of readiness. And with China starting to (maybe) build its own aircraft carrier, that’s got American defense analysts catching the vapors.
“Shades of 1939 are here again,†retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney wrote in a Fox News essay, claiming that the U.S.’s forthcoming F-35 will be no match for the J-20 — which so far only exists to the U.S. in the form of grainy photos. The only answer to forestall Chinese air hegemony? “nsert funding for 12 F-22s into the 2011 budget that is under a Continuing Resolution now while the F-22 line is still open — and keep that line going as a counter to this fast developing Chinese threat.â€
Vice Adm. Jack Dorsett tried to tamp down hyperventilation over the J-20 this week, while conceding that the new DF-21D anti-ship missile really is worrisome — as is China’s advancement in lasers, jammers, cyberwar and space.
All of that prompts a bout of smugness from China’s Global Times. “It is both natural and unnatural for the US to be concerned about China developing new weapons,†it editorializes. “Most powers wish that their superiority will last forever. China is growing up fast, and the US military edge over China is unavoidably shrinking.†The freakout will only be “dangerous for Sino-US relations.†If China could weaponize the sheer passive-aggression of this editorial, it would be the undisputed master of Asia.
Robert Gates’ China trip is designed to test whether there can be a more even keel to U.S.-Chinese military relations, after China suspended them last year to protest arms sales to Taiwan. For months, Gates has called for regularized mil-mil dialogue to reduce “miscommunication, misunderstanding, and miscalculation,†something Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has echoed.
Whether that’ll be the result of Gates’ trip remains to be seen. China’s smarting from its neighbors’ moves toward the U.S. — like Vietnam — in response to its aggressive 2010 regional posture. At the same time, Josh Rogin reports that Gates won’t get to see any People’s Liberation Army facilities that previous defense chiefs haven’t seen. But watch the Chinese laugh even harder if the U.S. hyperventilates over that.
