Comments on: China Adds Precision Strike to Capabilities

By: CR

CR — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:37:45 +0000

Byron said: “Also the crew over General Atomic has figured out how to make a Predator C, capable of taking off and landing on a LHD with only minor changes.…“
Byron, are you sure about that??? The Pred C is jet powered and carries it’s weapons internally so it likely needs a looong runway to get sufficent airpseeed to develop the apropriate amount of lift.
Were you thinking of the Pred A? That seems muchmore likely.…

By: GJP

GJP — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:58:15 +0000

Apparently, China has purchased the Rutan designed LongEZ.

By: Byron Skinner

Byron Skinner — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:07:33 +0000

Good Afternoon Joe,
I had a pin in calling the WWII German S-Boot as the ideal pirate chasing boat. It’s made of wood.
Thinking like a pirate, is rather easy, he’s in the trade for the money. Right now is dealing with a super power that is stupid enough to refuse to pay a modest $2 million ransom. I wonder how far $2 million goes in covering the DAILY overhead for two Burkes, a LAH, P-3 over flights as well as making opportunities for brother pirates to make a score. Joe thing about how dumb what we re doing is?
Now you are a pirate and lets just say that the $50 million you scored in 2008 wasn’t really enough to be a gentleman pirate, so who has the deepest pockets, well no question here the United States. So how do you take down a Burke destroyer valued at $2 billion, why plant some sea mines of course. The pirates know the only way our navy can clear mines is to run expensive warship over a mine field.
The pirates have what economists call a comparative advantage over the USN. The have shredded the Navy’s C4ISR, they know the location of all the war ships in the area, in short they know where the Navy is not.
Another interesting thing the pirates might do is close down a port and lock several USN ship in port. This is easier then most people think.
Now can you see the advantage of wooden hull?
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

By: Joe Buff

Joe Buff — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:49:51 +0000

Byron: Interesting ideas! I agree with you re China’s conduct in the Yulin Island incident. Restraint is the very essence of soft power. The Navy SEALs do have the twin-diesel Mark V Special Operations Boat, which can do 50 knots, carry a crew plus about 18 combat-equipped commandos, deploy/recover a Zodiac RBI, and mount heavy machine guns — plus some missiles or recoilless rifles in a pinch. They’re impressive craft, I’ve been on them at the pier at Coronado and Virginia Beach, but they might be too light to engage a pirate mother ship as you say. On the other hand the Mark Vs work in pairs and more then one pair could make a USN swarm, if there were enough of them to go around. The LCS would be nice to have too, a lot more powerful and there could even be an anti-pirate mission module, but how long till there are enough of them built?… Happy Easter to you as well!

By: sooperfly

sooperfly — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:23:25 +0000

Never underestimate a potential enemy. We shouldn’t back off from any of our international rights, but we’d better have a good plan and deveop contingencies in a realistic vein.

By: DominionofOne

DominionofOne — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:38:00 +0000

I have been reading big dad China stories since the end of the Soviets, and I am still reading this garbage. People really need to get out more.
Inflammatory rhetoric from some circles of the Chinese military establishemnt, and similar rhetoric from some circles in the US defense community. Each of course needs the other to justify themselves, their pet projects, and their myopia. Good thing the vast majority of each’s government and private sectors have not gone off the deep end. I guess that is the problem of military only perspectives without the context of political and economic considerations.

By: Joe Buff

Joe Buff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:18:40 +0000

One has to wonder whether the 5-boat swarm that mobbed USS Impeccable at close quarters might have deteriorated into a replay of the USS Pueblo incident (in the ‘60s she was captured by the DPRK and her crew held for more than a year), had the Arleigh Burke DDG USS Bainbridge not been dispatched to the scene. If a handful of modern pirates in speedboats can board and temporarily capture M/V Maersk Alabama, despite her having U.S. Merchant Marine Academy-educated officers aboard with advanced anti-pirate training, what could armed Chinese in patrol boats do to an unarmed T-AGOS SURTASS anti-submarine surveillance ship? According to academic studies I’ve read, the PRC has a long and consistent history of meaning what they say in their militaristic announcements to other countries regarding lines Beijing draws in the sand — or on the waves, as the case may be. Will there be a “next time” soon where things get a whole lot uglier?

By: stephen russell

stephen russell — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:58:21 +0000

If China can do precise guidance then we’re all Doomed.
Good Bye Pearl?
Or anyplace in CONUS.
Time to send in Recon spy subs & UAVs
& undercover Intel units who know Chinese culture & customs.

By: Byron Skinner

Byron Skinner — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:10:16 +0000

Good Morning Christian,
Spring has finally come and now it’s budget time again in Washington and the lobbyists are in bloom. I have read this story every Spring since the 1950’s. Big bad China, poor little Taiwan, it pulls at the heart strings. The window for China to invade a take over Taiwan has long passed. The current economic ties and the U.S. one china policy and a seat in the U.N all say this is not going to happen.
Anyone who takes the time to look into China “military build up(s)” of recent years will see at best a feeble effort, designed for domestic consumption to maintain political control by the Communist Party and the weapons export business, to which China has only mixed success. It’s main paying client Pakistan opted to “buy” Russian T 80UD tanks instead off the Chinese Type 090 Tank.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
China’s biggest threat come from an emerging middle class and the developing ties of international trade with the west that is providing a growing internal demand by putting pressure on the Communist Party for democratic institution. In short change the message that is emerging from the Chinese people policies, keep the name if you like.

By: demophilus

demophilus — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:00:21 +0000

The UAV in the picture looks like a Rutan VariEze. D’ya think Bert’s getting royalties for that?