"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

In such a situation the fighter aircraft of the USAF would be flying from
bases in Taiwan

Mmh, I guess that would be badly needed: the question of using airfields
that would be under almost permanent threat of IRBM and other kind of
attacks is another one, of course...

The Chinese dont have hundreds of Flankers or a fully
specified AWACS. They have purchased around 120
Su-27 and SU-3x aircraft. Assuming normal training
and serviceability requirements this equates to less
than 80 front line aircraft. They can field another
couple of hundred indigienously produced 3rd
generation fighters but the vast majority of their
air force consist of obsolete Mi17/19/21 clones

The PLAF has been boasting about acquiring
hundreds of front line aircraft for years but
the reality is that the real world acquisition
has been considerably below claimed targets.

As for strikes against Chinese targets, thats
what stand off and cruise missiles are for.

Keith,
the figures for the numbers of Su-27/30s in China I posted above come from
people who know much more about the PLAAF/PLANAF and the production of
Flankers than we both are to learn in our life-time. So, please excuse me if
I refuse to take seriously a statement that only something like 80 Flankers
are in the Chinese front-line service, especially at the time they have ten
operational and two regiments in the process of acquiring different
versions.

BTW, most of PLAAF MiG-17s and MiG-19s are long since gone. We're not
talking here about a Mao-times air force that couldn't get anything else.
It's perhaps these two types of which only "80 front-line aircraft" are
remaining in service: the PLAAF Is otherwise downsizing and massively
modernizing - and that since years. Believing, wishing or thinking a threat
away is not going to help - neither in the case of China or some other
nations, I'm affraid.

In that sence: the increasing air-to-air threat from China is only one
example, valid in the case of a clash over Taiwan. The USAF and the USN
would also be facing very advanced threats and powerful adversaries if
confronting Iran as well: except the few battles with Iraqi Mirages and
MiG-25/29s in 1991, namely, neither service has ever encountered anything
like IRIAF F-14s, armed with AIM-54s in combat (oh, and when the last USN's
F-14s are going to be retired, in 2007 or 2008, the IRIAF is going to stand
alone with the longest-ranged air-to-air missile world-wide, just for
example). Given the - pretty negative (especially in regards of the BVR -
which is quite surprising) - experiences from exercises with IAF Su-30MKIs
recently, this is also potentially not the nicest situation given the
aircraft and weapons currently at hand.

All in all, the gap is closing, and that's the main point in the whole
debate: to me it is obvious that the F-22 is more needed than many other
things.

Tom Cooper
Freelance Aviation Journalist & Historian
Vienna, Austria

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Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php

Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/titl...hp/title=S7875

Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/titl...hp/title=S6585

African MiGs
http://www.acig.org/afmig/

Arab MiG-19 & MiG-21 Units in Combat
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/titl...=S6550~ser=COM

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