9 thoughts on “China’s Weapons”

  2. So far we only have actual experience of their anti-air weapons which seem to be easy for us to neutralize. Some of this is almost certainly crews. Islamic armies are notorious for poor training. I also surmise that a problem is that the Chinese aircraft are much less “stealthy” and Chinese ECM is also well behind ours. It’s hard to realistically measure a system when you don’t have really capable systems to test against.

    Just because a J-10 looks like an F-22 doesn’t mean it is as capable, especially considering that the Chinese are well known to be far behind in engine tech. At the same time, “stealth” is just one of the things we bring against air defense. There hasn’t been much chance for the Iranians to climb the learning curve. The Serbians were smart and lucky enough to bag an F-117 given enough chances.

    Let’s hope we don’t have to get more experience.

  3. Well…when one is planning, the thing is to assume maximal capabilities for your enemy and plan for that.

    So from that standpoint I see this as a wake up call for the Chinese. Sometimes you can’t find inadequacies except through actual use in combat. They will get busy improving their gear. That’s what any sane organization would do.

    1. Indeed. The threat must be honored. Never assume (as the US did early in WWII in the Pacific) that the enemy is inept and their equipment is inadequate.

      We did the same in Vietnam.

      When an enemy tells you they have the means and opportunity to kill you, BELIEVE THEM

      2. Across social media I see comments about the capabilities of the Chinese that echo the same wrong dismissive ideas that westerners had about the Japanese prior to December 7, 1941.

        1. I don’t know if they have the capability China claims.

          I am willing to believe them. Because the only thing more expensive than the very best military in the world, is the second best.

  4. Their air defenses didn’t do well against the USA but that doesn’t mean they are bad. How many did Venezuela even have? Iran had more but it took a rather significant effort to knock them all out.

    I don’t know how many offensive Chinese weapons Iran has used but the reports were we blew them up before they could be launched.

    China was recently hacked with petabytes of data about their military available for sale. The audience may not know how capable they are but our military certainly does.

    But where they are right now is less important than where they are going, which is why Trump is doing everything he can to rebuild our military and get our allies to rebuild theirs, even if it means they hate the USA for getting them to do it.

  5. There are a lot of problems with the Chinese military aside from the questionable capability and quality of its weaponry. The biggest one right now is that pretty much the entire officer corps of the PLA and its various branches are spending most of each day looking over their shoulders for the approach of Pooh Bear’s henchmen eager to bag another “traitor” or “corrupt official” as the largest purge of a communist military since the days of Mao or Stalin proceeds. Until all of that noise settles down, the entire PRC military should be regarded as combat-ineffective.

    The other thing about the Iran War that should give the PRC serious pause – in addition to the high-profile failure of the weaponry it supplied – is the degree to which a nation that has been, and continues to be, bombed mercilessly has, nonetheless, been able to continue imposing its will over a narrow passage of water. The passage of water separating the PRC mainland from Taiwan is several times wider than the Strait of Hormuz and Taiwan is likely to prove considerably more resistant to mainland-launched bombardments than Iran has been. If that isn’t keeping the PRC’s military honchos up at night it certainly should be.

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