The battle for technological superiority to ensure that other nations remain generations behind in economy and defense
TL:DR at bottom
The air power of the US is far ahead of its competitors, both in numbers and in technology, and they have been since the cold war started. The USAF is the world's largest air force, and the US Navy is the world's 2nd largest air force. The capabilities of the US the produce and field large amounts of high tech equipment is a massive advantage the US has. In terms of 5th generation fighter aircraft, the F-35 has plenty of problems for sure, but the fact that over 600 have been built so far compared to China's 50 J-20s and Russia's 12 Su-57s should show just how much of an edge the US has over its rivals.
For air to air combat, the US has always held an overall advantage. The US were the first to develop and deploy heat seeking air-to-air missiles (AAM), and the Soviets didn't develop one of their own until they were able to get their hands on a US made AIM-9B sidewinder fired from a ROCAF F-86 that got stuck in a PLAAF MiG-17 over the Taiwan strait and failed to detonate. Soviet short range heat seeking AAMs did manage to match the US in a fairly short amount of time, and were arguably superior by the end of the Cold war, but the US has almost always had a sizeable advantage over almost every other country in terms of beyond visual range (BVR) engagement capabilities. For example, the AIM-120, which is a long range fire and forget AAM, was in service starting in 1991, and Russia didn't develop an equivalent until 2002. Earlier in the Cold war, the US radar guided AIM-7 sparrow AAM carried by the F-4 Phantom had far more range and maneuverability than the R-3R carried by the MiG-21s. When the MiG-23 came out, it had the R-23 which could finally match the AIM-7, but even then, the F-4 could carry 4 AIM-7s while the MiG-23 could only carry 2 R-23s. The only time the US didn't have a BVR advantage was for a brief period in the 70s/80s when Soviet radar tech was finally able to match the range and capabilities of the US, and newly introduced Soviet aircraft like the MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27 where able to carry a similar amount of missiles as US equivalents like the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18. Even then they were almost always playing catch up, and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 once again allowed the US to massively increase its technological edge.
Air to ground engagements are another area where the US is far above everyone else. Basically every US aircraft is designed as a fighter-bomber, with individual fighter aircraft often able to carry at least as much ordinance as a WW2 heavy bomber, but more importantly is that they can use smart weapons across the board. Comparatively, countries like Russia and China are still mostly using dumb bombs and rockets which are far less precise, and require getting much closer to a target in order to hit accurately,
Jet engine tech is another big advantage the US has over China in particular. China's domestic engine production is still not up to par with the quality of the US or Russia, and they are currently reliant on imports of Russian engines to equip their fighter aircraft. This means that domestically produced Chinese jet engines are generally less powerful than US engines, and US aircraft would have an advantage in short range engagements against Chinese aircraft equipped with Chinese built engines.
When it comes to a US vs China scenario, the only advantage China has in the air is its massive ground based air defense network, which would even the odds considerably, but at the end of the day the average Chinese aircraft is less advanced and comes in fewer number than the average US aircraft.
TL:DR: The US is (roughly) a generation above everyone else when it comes to aerial combat, and have almost always had an edge over everyone else when it comes to air power. Even the USSR spent most of their effort playing catch up to the US, and only maybe achieved parity right at the end of the cold war. The idea that China, who are still behind Russia when it comes to air power, would be able leap frog to being 2+ generations ahead of the US is laughably stupid. The best China could realistically achieve would be technological and numerical parity with the US within the next few decades, and it would probably take a century of development along with the partial/full collapse of the US for China to have the kind of aerial advantage that the currently US has.
Col 3: seize from and destroy the economy
Technological Warfare:
TL:DR at bottom
The air power of the US is far ahead of its competitors, both in numbers and in technology, and they have been since the cold war started. The USAF is the world's largest air force, and the US Navy is the world's 2nd largest air force. The capabilities of the US the produce and field large amounts of high tech equipment is a massive advantage the US has. In terms of 5th generation fighter aircraft, the F-35 has plenty of problems for sure, but the fact that over 600 have been built so far compared to China's 50 J-20s and Russia's 12 Su-57s should show just how much of an edge the US has over its rivals.
For air to air combat, the US has always held an overall advantage. The US were the first to develop and deploy heat seeking air-to-air missiles (AAM), and the Soviets didn't develop one of their own until they were able to get their hands on a US made AIM-9B sidewinder fired from a ROCAF F-86 that got stuck in a PLAAF MiG-17 over the Taiwan strait and failed to detonate. Soviet short range heat seeking AAMs did manage to match the US in a fairly short amount of time, and were arguably superior by the end of the Cold war, but the US has almost always had a sizeable advantage over almost every other country in terms of beyond visual range (BVR) engagement capabilities. For example, the AIM-120, which is a long range fire and forget AAM, was in service starting in 1991, and Russia didn't develop an equivalent until 2002. Earlier in the Cold war, the US radar guided AIM-7 sparrow AAM carried by the F-4 Phantom had far more range and maneuverability than the R-3R carried by the MiG-21s. When the MiG-23 came out, it had the R-23 which could finally match the AIM-7, but even then, the F-4 could carry 4 AIM-7s while the MiG-23 could only carry 2 R-23s. The only time the US didn't have a BVR advantage was for a brief period in the 70s/80s when Soviet radar tech was finally able to match the range and capabilities of the US, and newly introduced Soviet aircraft like the MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27 where able to carry a similar amount of missiles as US equivalents like the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-18. Even then they were almost always playing catch up, and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 once again allowed the US to massively increase its technological edge.
Air to ground engagements are another area where the US is far above everyone else. Basically every US aircraft is designed as a fighter-bomber, with individual fighter aircraft often able to carry at least as much ordinance as a WW2 heavy bomber, but more importantly is that they can use smart weapons across the board. Comparatively, countries like Russia and China are still mostly using dumb bombs and rockets which are far less precise, and require getting much closer to a target in order to hit accurately,
Jet engine tech is another big advantage the US has over China in particular. China's domestic engine production is still not up to par with the quality of the US or Russia, and they are currently reliant on imports of Russian engines to equip their fighter aircraft. This means that domestically produced Chinese jet engines are generally less powerful than US engines, and US aircraft would have an advantage in short range engagements against Chinese aircraft equipped with Chinese built engines.
When it comes to a US vs China scenario, the only advantage China has in the air is its massive ground based air defense network, which would even the odds considerably, but at the end of the day the average Chinese aircraft is less advanced and comes in fewer number than the average US aircraft.
TL:DR: The US is (roughly) a generation above everyone else when it comes to aerial combat, and have almost always had an edge over everyone else when it comes to air power. Even the USSR spent most of their effort playing catch up to the US, and only maybe achieved parity right at the end of the cold war. The idea that China, who are still behind Russia when it comes to air power, would be able leap frog to being 2+ generations ahead of the US is laughably stupid. The best China could realistically achieve would be technological and numerical parity with the US within the next few decades, and it would probably take a century of development along with the partial/full collapse of the US for China to have the kind of aerial advantage that the currently US has.