So much of the military budget is just funneling money to contractors as opposed to actually getting results. The F-35 is a joke. The last time the US military was actually tested by a strong opponent was in Vietnam, and was now 50 years ago. And the US lost that one. I'm wondering, if there was a conventional, non-nuclear war with say China in a few more years, is it possible we'd see the shocking result of the US military getting absolutely embarrassed. I mean, it's obvious I think that the US wouldn't win that anyway, but I'm talking about like, the world realizing all the trillions spent on the vaunted US military didn't really mean much and other than the nukes, the US is actually militarily weak?

  • hauntingspectre [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The real answer is, no one actually knows. So much of any peer or near peer war will consist of electronics that haven't been combat tested that it's hard to actually predict any outcome.

    Plus, the gamer mindset of "counting the weapons" has to be abandoned. The easy example is the DF-21, the anti ship ballistic missile, aka the "carrier killer". Sounds big and scary! But, how exactly does it target and hit a mobile carrier? 40 mph on a carrier doesn't sound fast, until you realize that's in a radius. That suddenly becomes a lot bigger area to search. So, you feel you have a targeting solution on a US carrier, and launch. The missile takes 15-20 minutes to arrive, still leaving plenty of ocean to search. The missile is blind during reentry, and maneuvering at the speed a ballistic missile goes is not easy, to put it mildly.

    So you need updates from a targeting radar. But nothing painting a carrier battle group locally is going to survive, because it's well within the lethal range of air defenses. Well, then let's move to space, and we'll use radar satellites to pass targeting information. Except satellites are known quantities. If in geosynchronous orbit, you know roughly what area they can target. If orbiting, you know their orbit. And satellites can be destroyed, blinded, or jammed.

    Of course, this all assumes the US systems are working correctly as well. So you wind up in a situation where there's definitely a threat, but until missiles start flying, no one actually knows what will happen. Will the Chinese kill chain function uninterrupted? Or will the Chinese decide to fire them as a bluff to encourage the carrier group into making a mistake, perhaps exposing themselves to a submarine or antiship missile battery lying in waiting?

    There's oodles more that can be discussed - how good is Chinese ASW? How good is Chinese AAW? Will the Chinese fleet even bother leaving port? Like, if there's no need to set sail because they're confident that bombers and missiles will keep the USN at bay, why bother?