Article

2007-04-09 China-Japan-Koreas

The Flanker Fleet -The PLA's 'Big Stick'

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-04-09 11:49|| || Front Page|| [11133 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Well, it's not like we'd sell 'em modern aircraft. Guess they have to buy the Russkie trash.

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-04-09 12:11|| 2007-04-09 12:11|| Front Page Top

#2 Individual airframe statistics don't mean much in a missile world. The efficacy of a fighter force is in the electronics and the training of the crews that use them. Only self-defeating rules of engagement let aircraft get close enough for anything resembling a dogfight.

Posted by RWV 2007-04-09 12:16|| 2007-04-09 12:16|| Front Page Top

#3 Please don't bring a "big stick" to a gun fight...

Posted by flash91 2007-04-09 12:23|| 2007-04-09 12:23|| Front Page Top

#4 Dear PLAF -

Welcome to 1990.

Love,
The USAF

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2007-04-09 12:30|| 2007-04-09 12:30|| Front Page Top

#5 Wonder how many F/A-18s it would take to wipe out that "big stick". One thing we're vastly superior in is ECM. I do believe the PLA has bought a "lead sled", as we used to call the old F-4. The F-4 - proof positive that with enough power, even a brick can fly.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-04-09 13:36|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-04-09 13:36|| Front Page Top

#6 All the fancy avionics in the world cannot make up for Soviet-styled ground controlled air combat : the Syrians tried the same thing back in the 1980s when they had the "superior" MiGs against the Israelis, and look at the results of downed aircraft on the Syrian side. The problem for the Chinese is that they have those fighters, 300 of them, and about 3000 other older armed target drone class MiGs and the like. So, if the Chinese wish to threaten someone, they have to shift all 300 of the good aircraft over to the threatened side - leaving their other flanks exposed.
Also, that assumes that the USAF is the only force going after the PLAAF : if the stuff hits the fan bad enough for a shooting war between the PLAAF and the USAF, the US Navy and Marine Air Wings are involved as well. Plus then, one has to factor in the AEGIS class destroyers, against which the PLAAF has NO experience (not even against a somewhat modern SAM defense belt like in Iraq prior to 2003}.
One big problem for the PLAAF is that it has NO depth : there is no Nellis AFB equivalent in China. As the PLAAF loses aircraft, the losses have to be made up by new manufacture or transfer of less capable aircraft from existing wings. The USAF can have whole squadrons rebuilt from the Boneyard at Nellis in less time than it would take to build new aircraft. So in a shooting war that lasts over a few months, the PLAAF loses all of its new and advanced aircraft, with no hope of making up the losses in the short term - beyond what Chinese factories can turn out. Also remember the quality control issues that have dogged all Chinese licensed production of weapons since the 1930s - Chinese tanks and APCs have so many problems with welds and engines that most countries won't bother to rebuilt them when they get old, they simply give them away as military aid to even poorer countries or strip them and use them as targets on ranges.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2007-04-09 15:34|| 2007-04-09 15:34|| Front Page Top

#7 And Shieldwolf doesn't even address loss of pilot skills.
takes more than bright and shiny toys to impress; you gotta know how to use them.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-04-09 16:02|| 2007-04-09 16:02|| Front Page Top

#8 And the fact you have to have those long flat things to land on. I think they call them "cruise missile magnets".

Posted by Steve">Steve 2007-04-09 17:46|| 2007-04-09 17:46|| Front Page Top

#9 Still the air combat skills of the PLAAF is beyond compare. That 60 hours a year adds up.

Posted by Shipman">Shipman 2007-04-09 17:52|| 2007-04-09 17:52|| Front Page Top

#10 against unarmed P3s they are stunning and brave

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-04-09 18:35|| 2007-04-09 18:35|| Front Page Top

#11 Except when they accidentally run into them.

Posted by Closh Slealing7392 2007-04-09 18:41|| 2007-04-09 18:41|| Front Page Top

#12 I still hope our skunkworks is producing an entirely new class of drone fighter aircraft as heavily armed for air-to-air combat as the A-10 is for CAS.

Imagine the high-pitched farting sounds in the cockpit of Chinese aircraft when an entire wing gets engaged by something traveling at Mach-7 and single handedly engaging a dozen enemy aircraft at a time.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-04-09 19:30|| 2007-04-09 19:30|| Front Page Top

#13 Would those in the Chinese cockpits have time to make noises of any pitch at a closing speed nearing Mach-8, Anonymoose? I know I could't see fast enough to figure out what was going on when Mr. Wife used to drive at 185 kmh on the autobahn.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-04-09 20:03|| 2007-04-09 20:03|| Front Page Top

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