U.S. Air Force leaders are warning that China’s “rate of change” is “outpacing the U.S.,” and intended to achieve global dominance by 2050 through a multi-pronged strategic approach to include military modernization, technological innovation, economic imperialism and a “whole of government” approach to eroding the U.S. military advantage.
“China is the pacing challenge, actively developing weapons systems specifically designed to defeat the U.S. competitive advantage,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown said at the Air Force Association symposium, while going on to point out certain conditions and circumstances likely to generate concern at the Pentagon. For instance, Brown said China now operates the largest Aviation force in the Indo-Pacific and is challenging U.S. relationships with allies.
“China will exceed the U.S. as the largest economy in 10-years,” Brown added, while making specific reference to the South China Sea. Brown said as much as one-third of liquid natural gas reserves pass through or come from the South China Sea.
China’s Air Force
If China has the largest aviation presence in the Pacific, then many are likely to consider the kinds of platforms and threats which may make up its force, to include drones of concern as well as fighter jets bombers and strategic cargo aircraft.
Certainly the Chinese are known to operate the J-10 and carrier-launched J-15, yet the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is now operating a growing number of cutting edge or emerging platforms likely to present a much more significant threat. Perhaps some of China’s newer systems could fall within the conceptual purview of Brown’s comment that China is deliberately developing platforms to rival the U.S.
