Why Is the US Losing to China in Arms Race? 4

US military is a laughing stock in its development of advanced weapons. Its top stealth fighter jet F-35, destroyer, aircraft carrier all have problem of seriously exceeding budgets, delay in delivery and technical problems after delivery.

Why?

1. There are no scientists or engineers really know the jobs in US military as the culture of US military is disgusting to scientists and engineers. That is well-known so that I will not mention my post on that.

2. US military serves big moneys in weapon industry. It is willing to pay the excessive R&D and maintenance costs that the weapon enterprises charge though such costs shall be incurred by the big money weapon producers.

Defense One’s article “America’s Fighter Jet Makers Are Thriving, Thanks to Trump and Putin” on March 20 says that Boeing has got contracts for quite a few older fighter jets. It says “Last year, Kuwait ordered 28 Super Hornets, the first of which are to arrive by December.” There may be further orders as “Finland is considering new Super Hornets (as well as the F-35 and other European-made aircraft) to replace its older Hornets in a deal that could be worth $13 billion. Germany is considering the Super Hornet to replace its fleet of 90 Tornado jets.”

In addition, it says “Qatar agreed in 2017 to order 36 F-15s, the first of which is expected to arrive in 2021. Israel is also reportedly considering an order of new F-15s.

Such orders and potential orders have kept and will keep Boeing very active in fighter jet production. Still US military will place orders for outdated F-15s to keep Boeing active so that there will be two fighter jet makers active!

The above are where China has great advantages:

1. China’s military and weapon producers develop and make weapons to serve their country instead of earning profit.

2. Chinese military employs top scientists and engineers as active military officers and highly respects and trusts them.

The photo below shows that China’s navy chief Admiral Wu Shengli held an umbrella for Rear Admiral Ma Weiming, China’s top naval engineer well-known for his development of China’s electromagnetic catapult for aircraft carrier and integrated electrical propulsion system for quiet submarines (see my post “Why Chinese submarines could soon be quieter than US ones” on July 5, 2017)

Admiral Wu Shengli (second right), then commander of the PLA Navy, holds an umbrella for Real Admiral Ma Weiming at the PLA Naval University of Engineering in Wuhan in June, 2016 . Photo: Handout

Chinese military understands and trusts scientists and engineers and is able to wisely assign them the job of developing top weapons.

A typical example is the assignment of the development of China’s most advanced fast missile boat to a young girl engineer Navy officer Yang Yi (shown in the photo below) as described in my post “A Pretty Girl Is China’s Houbei Class Missile Boat Designer” on November 12, 2012, in which I said

Houbei class fast missile boat designer Yang Yi mil.huanqiu.com photo

She may be 40 now, but still looks young in photos. However, nearly 2 decades ago in 1994, she was assigned chief designer of China’s well-known Houbei Class fast attack missile boat. At that time, she was the youngest chief designer ever in China.

There are now three flotillas of more than 80 such boats in Chinese navy. According to a retired US navy officer, the boat is a purebred ship killer, perhaps even a carrier killer.

Article by Chan Kai Yee