Funny thing about you foreigners opintions....(F-22)

[FoverF]

China launched one of the largest invasions in modern history during the Korean war, and no-one had any idea until it was too late.

Chinese political and military leadership are not stupid enough to give the world several months notice before invading Taiwan.

Oviously their success would depend on surprise, and if they planned to invade Taiwan, no-one would know it was coming till it was over.

So this brings things like America's air expeditionary forces into the spotlight.

Right now, the Air Expeditionary Wings are pretty much the only forces the US could respond with at less than several weeks notice.

If there were only a week or so worth of warning, the amount of firepower the US could get to Taiwan would be minimal.

Which is why something like the B-2/F-22 epeditionary wings are key.

Any war between China and Taiwan would likely see little more than a wing or two of american tactical aircraft.

This is the kind of major combat operations that an F-22 squadron would likely have to face.

Any war involving North Korea would involve the Japan-based forces as well, and so American forces would have a lot more firepower on call, but they also wouldn't have the security of defending a small, well armed island.

[qck1]

The biggest advantage that the US has on the battlefield is the AWACS. With this airplane, the US has had complete command and control on the battlefield. With this airplane, there is no where near the need for super performance aircraft.

As far as putting all the effort into building a stealth aircraft is a waste of money since stealth aircraft have proven to have exceptionally high maintainance and for minimal benifit. If the enemy turns on radar, they are dead. Laser and non emissive detection technologies will probably be the wave of the future for any US enemies since they are more survivable (more difficult to home in on a laser than rader), and stealt does not help against these threats.

What the US really needs is an update of the A-10, which is the best airplane for the types of wars the US has fought in since WWII. The other plane that has proven its effectiveness is the B-52. Percision munitions only work if you have actually identified the target, and it seems that this has not generally been the case.

[caveman123456]

I've been reading your debate and, while I realize my entrance into the discussion is somewhat tardy, I have come to ask two questions:
1) China, from what I understand from available publications, has the largest military force in the world. While I realize that in order for such a sword to be wielded, it takes strong, capable hands, and a sharp mind to do so. However, in a straight up fight, usually brawn will win over any brains or equipment. We can't argue the fact that China has the brawn, thae capability of invading virtually any nation it could desire.
As far as "warning" goes, how much warning was there before Hitler invaded Poland at the outbreak of World War II? In a blitz invasion, the key factor is surprise. In English terms, they're not going to call us up a month in advance with "Just wanted to let you know, we're planning on invading so and so next month, so just keep out of our hair, ok?" Heck no, they're going to jump right in. Minimal warning equals minimal effort and minimal casualties.

My second question is this: As far as the justification of cutting potentially necessary hardware from the drawing boards on account of, "We haven't needed it lately", How can they be sure? I'd much rather have a big stick when I go to hit somebody over the head and not need it than be left with a twig wishing I had my club when they're coming after me.
3rd World countries are surprisingly smart, and if we think for a minute that they won't figure some way to come knocking on our door in the middle of the night, we're not only blind, but we're stupid. Check out the movie "Red Dawn." I know it's an old movie, but to be perfectly honest, I don't think it nearly as impossible as we'd like to believe.
I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I think the 22 should be put into service AND our older a/c should be updated and refitted to face the new enemies that will be coming along.
Thanks for your patience, I didn't mean to write a book, but there it is, my opinion. Do what you'd like with it.