"Henry J Cobb" wrote in message
...
Kevin Brooks wrote:
"Henry J Cobb" wrote in message
...
Can you please list all of the air bases the US Air Force has within 600
miles of Taiwan that they can use without needing a permission slip from
a foreign government?

Trust Henry to jump in a day late, a dollar short, and with his skivvies
on
fire. We do have one such base in Okinawa, looks to be close to the five
to
six hundred mile range. Of course, the PI are a possibility, and they
have
no great affection for the PRC, either.

See the bit above about permission slip.

How much of a permission slip do we need for Okinawa? We are not in the
habit of creating large bases, and keeping them in place, if we can't
operate as we choose out of them.


What if we had a war and the US Air Force didn't show up because their
F/A-22s couldn't reach it?

While I sympathize with your position here (and indeed believe the USAF
fighters would likely be a minor contributor in this particular
scenario),
you seem to have forgotten some platforms that do indeed have the range
to
ensure that the "US Air Force shows up"--B-1, B-2, B-52, Global Hawk,
KC-135/10 (which your USN folks *do* appreciate when they can get them),
etc. And how far was it from the Gulf states to Afghanistan?

How is a B-2 going to keep the PLAAF away from Taiwan without bombing
China and turning a minor conflict into a general war?

Duh. You use the B-2, etc., to hammer the crap out of the targets in the PRC
(like maybe their airbases, huh?). It goes to the level of armed conflict,
we are not going to be ditzing around with them while giving them sanctuary
across the 12-mile limit.


Better yet, what if we didn't have a war because the US Navy deterred
it?

But how, Henry? By your estimate, we'll only have 20 knot capable ships,
which will still be enroute after it is over...

Given the slow rate the Bush regime is building big deck carriers we may
well end up that way.

Pity we can't cancel those F/A-22s and put the money back in the Navy
where it can be put to some use.

Ah, good ol' Henry, firmly convinced he is the only one with a clue--those
danged folks who actually wear the uniform being rather stupid and all, of
course. Go back to SMN and tell everbody again how the LCS has to be able to
change out mission modules at sea, and anything over what, 20 knots is
wasted effort? And how it should have an armament suite that would make an
Iowa BB blush and run in fear, of course. While operating a vertiable fleet
of helos from each one...

Brooks


-HJC