China is Australias number 1 two way trade partner. That’s like saying that Canada is the US biggest threat.
However Australia does have aerial refuelling ya know?
Canada isn’t known for flexing its strategic muscles regionally, ya know?
Aerial refuelling. :rolleyes: The first rule of it is “don’t do it unless you absolutely have to”. The second rule is “don’t do it anywhere near enemy fighters”. With the legs on the F-35 and F-18, it’s pretty much impossible not to break the second rule IMHO.
China cannot be allowed to subvert America’s air and naval supremacy much as the Kaissereich tried to subvert Britain’s naval supremacy in the 1900s.
If China wants to close a thirty-year development gap, let them try. The J-10 fighter will struggle to match the capability of Western legacy aircraft like the F-15 and Tornado, let alone the F-22 and Typhoon.
“Cannot be allowed”? “Subvert”? What are we gonna do if they manage to get their escort carrier floating? How much more money do you think we should spend on our military if they do? How much higher should our taxes be to pay for it?
The J-20 looks credible, so I’d say the development gap is closer to 15 years, but yeah. China’s not a strategic threat to the US at any predictable point this century.
Pfft. There is zero chance that China will have a stealth fighter aircraft in service in 15 years. The J-XX program was launched sometime around 1995; it took us that long to almost get the F-35 into service, despite the experience gained from the Raptor program (which began in 1982).
When Israel kicks in more than a pittance of a multi-billion-dollar project, you get more to say about its development. The USA is paying a lot more and, as these things go on the playground, we get first dibs. Don’t like it? Talk to China or Russia about alternatives. I mean, fucking HOLLAND is paying more for development costs and who are they afraid of, Belgium? Or, from recent forum posts, Denmark? 
Okay, Germany, but still. 
Hmm, on the other hand, the F-22 first flight was in 1997, and it was deployed in 2005–eight years.
J-20’s first flight was this January. I think you might be being a bit optimistic about development delays.
Third, you need it when there are no military airfields across the middle 9/10s of your continent. (Not intended as factual information.)
There’s also nothing useful to bomb in those middle 9/10ths =P
Actually they are, they are contesting sovereignty of the arctic sea lanes and sea floor resources with Russia and the Nordic states.
Has China started any wars lately? The have legitimate border disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, so they need an aircraft carrier. Makes sense to me.
Does anyone actually think they would try and invade Taiwan? Why would they?, China is much smarter than that, wait 15-25 years and Taiwan will peacefully reunify. Already millions of Taiwanese work in mainland China, and there is massive Chinese investment in Taiwan.
Yeah, but you still need to get from Brisbane to Perth without taking a steamship via Darwin and Surabaya. Pirate Jenny may take the ship with no way for you to take off or deploy your missiles.
What on earth are you talking about? Alessan’s post was simply refuting the idea that manned fighters are obsolete.
Sure, but the J-20 is as much a propaganda tool as a warplane. The F-22, if anything, is the opposite; the less people knew about its capabilities, the happier the USAF was.
In other words, the Raptor was rolled out when it was just about done. I doubt the current J-20 prototype bears anything other than a physical resemblance to what the actual aircraft will be.
If they are so useful to Israel and it wants in on them, it should pay more for its development. For my tax money it’s overkill and I feel we are subsidizing some of the other partners at my expense.
The OP has 14 threads. 12 of them directly relate to how afraid he is of China or Muslims. They all also include really lame anti-American jokes. He’s started this carrier debate at least 3 times, and he’s yet to explain why Americans should be afraid that China has less than 1/10 of the naval power that the U.S. possesses. I understand that this might be scary for Taiwan, but the OP makes it clear that he is addressing Americans. At the same time, it bothers him that America has an interventionist overseas policy.
(military aircraft geek) But he’s talking about fighter-bombers! What can be cooler? 
Logically I just don’t understand the irrational fear of China. In the last 40 years they haven’t started any wars or particularly manifested any imperial ambitions that I’m aware of.
Tibet and Taiwan are seen as an integral part of China, and China wants Taiwan back. Whether you agree with their claims or not is not the point, the point is as far as I am aware China has never shown any signs of territorial ambitions outside what they consider as “Greater China” (that is Central China, Tibet and Taiwan) since the formation of the PRC. They do want to take their place in the world as a regional superpower with a bluewater navy. Why shouldn’t they?
When the US and the USSR were caught up in wasting 100’s of millions on a pointless nuclear arms race, China did the smart thing, just built enough nuclear weapons so they couldn’t be bullied, and then stopped. Why did the US or USSR ever need 10’s of thousands of warheads when 100 would have devastated every major city and military target of their cold war foes?
Well, the USSR refused then, and still refuses as far as I know, to admit that our dicks are bigger than theirs.
Perhaps you should read his posts again. He didn’t say anything about Israel or the F-35 being useful to Israel. Israel isn’t even contributing to the F-35 development costs. I don’t think you understand how this works; “other partners” usually don’t pay anything. They just buy some planes- which generates huge profits for US industry and makes subsequent US purchases cheaper.
How is it overkill? The F-35 will be vastly cheaper to operate than the F-22 (though thanks to inter-service squabbles and Lockheed’s incompetence, it won’t be cheaper to buy). That’s the whole point of the program - to supplement the F-22’s spearhead capability with a larger fleet of second-tier fighters, just like the F-15/F-16 fleets.