images via Key Publishing by way of Mupp (Ares Blog commenter)
Or the Chinese equivalent of what the B-1 was suppose to be...a deep strike airplane. The Chinese are mostly operating OLD Russian Bear type bombers in that role. It would also make sense for them to try for a replacement.
Either way, the response from the Defense Dept will be telling.
PS.
What's with the door to the main landing gear???
I kinda like those big freakin wheel doors. They are simple, sturdy and can act as additional stabilizers during T/O and landing, which it probably needs due to its length.
ReplyDeletePerhaps even access points/ladders for maintenance/refueling as well. Pure speculation of course.
ID has some great hi-res pics, one of which is a frontal shot - this bird is wide! There must be a huge weapons bay, similar to Russia's Pakfa (4-8 missiles?).
I guess it was to be expected, while most of the West is bogged down in COIN ops, Russia and China mosey along the hi-tech, hi-end fighter path.
More like the B-1R or maybe the FB-22 concepts. I like the anti-AWACS/tanker thoughts though. You knock those out and you put a big crimp in any actions we can take.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that there is no exportable air superiority fighter to challenge this and other emerging designs. JSF was conceptualized with the assumption that no one could/would build a VLO fighter to challenge allies' air dominance in foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteEconomic checkmate in 5 years; military checkmate in 10. United States of America (1776-2020)
ReplyDeletenot really that simple.
ReplyDeletethe US consumer is the drug addict and big corporations with China's help are the drug pushers. the problem is this. globalism required the US consumer to consume more...at least until the Chinese middle class was firmly established to take its place.
that hasn't happened and i personally don't believe it can happen in a communist country.
i do believe that you'll an economic crisis in the US but i don't think that China will be the beneficiary of our ordeal. they will suffer right along with us. with the added problem of having to deal with a society that has become proud and obnoxious and expansionist.
what do i see in 5 years?
i see open hostility and the beginnings of what some will believe is a cold war.
i think that after a short cold snap, we'll see outright fighting between China and the US (possibly through surrogates) but it'll be readily apparent that China and the US are at war.
the commodity system will probably get smashed. nuclear power will be encouraged...the border between the US and Mexico will be sealed (as a matter of fact, a scenario i see playing out has China aiding Mexico via Chavez in their war against drug dealers forcing us to react) and a fortress USA established.
sadly that's probably a best case scenario.
your option has us muddling along with China dominating our relationship. i don't believe any REAL, RIGHT THINKING AMERICAN would tolerate that situation.
What leverages do the US have to fight a future conflict, cold or hot?
ReplyDeleteBy 2020, a good majority of American individual, state and federal entities would be: ill, poorly-educated/staffed and heavily in debt, not to mention a lack of social & political cohesion and an unprecedented talent efflux over influx, among other issues.
The factors that helped Americans prevailed in Cold War two decades ago simply aren't there today or in foreseeable future.
efflux of talent? you mean the rich? over influx? you mean illegal immigration?
ReplyDeletethe rich can leave. i have never bought into the Glenn Beck way of thinking that the rich are the 'producers' in society. many people are wealthy because of simple chance. talent, ability and hard work had nothing to do with their rise to prominence.
if hard work and talent were all it took then my grandfather and many other people (i like to think myself included) would be fabulously wealthy.
no the rich are just people. people that chance, life and circumstances all smiled on in a particular fashion.
illegal immigration?
a construct of the wealthy to lower wages in this country. except for liberals, corporations, wealthy individuals (who benefit from the services that illegals provide) and of course illegals themselves---no one else is impressed and many 'open minded' Americans are waking up to the threat that they pose to our middle class.
draconian measures can take care of our debt problem and this most selfish of all generations (baby boomers) can pass on into history while their children and their childrens children deal with the pain of their luxury.
what you fail to realize is that communist governments are not designed to last.
China will fail, just like the Soviet Union did.
your pessimism is unfounded...concern is justified, but a defeatist attitude isn't.
besides, let me ask you this...
what are you doing to prepare in case their is an economic melt down and the US goes into a period of life without the rule of law?
are you prepared if our just in time system of food delivery to supermarkets fails?
what about drinking water in case of brownouts?
if you're not prepared to provide for yourself in case of a civil disturbance, natural or man made disaster then you my friend are really just part of the problem.
have you taken steps to get your personnel finances in order?
have you attempted to re-orient your spending so that you support products made in the USA (notice i didn't say US companies...just products made here)
if you can't answer yes to those simple questions then you have no right to complain and your down cast spirit is better understood.
Talent influx/efflux = bulk movement of highly skilled migrants. It has nothing to do with the rich or illegal residents.
ReplyDeleteChina, being communistic yet brutally capitalistic, will not fail the same way Soviet did. It will rather streamline its economy while picking up the geopolitical vacuum as Americans inevitably retreat oversea.
Soviet lost the Cold War because its economy failed while resisting painful but necessary reforms; Japan failed because its economy has been caught in between tidal waves of debt and stagnation, for decades.
ReplyDelete