China sub stalked U.S. fleet

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In article , Ricardo
wrote:

"China, which has a rampant economy, has raised military spending by
more than 10 per cent a year for 15 years. That has given the People's
Liberation Army a bristling array of high-tech weaponry, including
carrier-killing weapons. They threaten the vessels that have kept the
Pacific a United States lake for more than half a century and that could
block China's long-cherished dream of snuffing out the small democratic
breakaway state of Taiwan.

Er... maybe not.

There's a lot of hyperbole about the "Chinese defense buildup." If you read
the aviation press, there have been some pretty good articles in recent
issues of Combat Airpower about the Chinese air force. In short, the
aviation geeks are not impressed. The Chinese have bought a fair amount of
new equipment, but they are also wedded to a lot of old and inferior
equipment as well. And their flight hours are awful, averaging something
like 40-60 per year. In other words, their pilots are getting in an average
of about one hour of flight time a week.

As far as the Chinese navy is concerned, people make a big deal out of their
purchase of some modern Russian destroyers. But how many did they actually
buy? Four? It's not a lot. One would think from the hyperbole that they
now have a massive navy. They don't. It's not much bigger than it was ten
years ago.




D