"the ****ing Boudha" <voivodveak@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:f20c5d1d-10e8-4aab-adcd-577d5f349340@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mar 30, 7:53 pm, "ltl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <ltl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.china/post?hl=en
>
> -----------------------------
>
> 23 March 2008 17:44:35
> US, Russia, China in fierce battle to sell fighter jets in Asia
>
> WA****NGTON, March 23, 2008 (AFP) - The United States is bracing for
> tough competition from Russia and China as cash-flush Asian economies
> look up to the trio for a new breed of fighter jets to beef up their
> air forces, experts say.
>
> Japan, India, Australia and South Korea are keen to have the most
> modern, fifth generation, jet fighters while Southeast Asian nations
> such as Malaysia and Indonesia are re****tedly eyeing fourth generation
> fighters from China.
>
> With Asia powering ahead with military modernization and capability
> growth, the United States wants to maintain leader****p in defense
> sales in the region attracted by low cost offerings from Russia and
> China, experts said.
>
> "The Americans and Russians are competing hard for the Asian fighter
> aircraft market, but everybody is also watching to see how
> aggressively the Chinese will be entering this market," Richard
> Fisher, an expert with the Wa****ngton-based International *****sment
> and Strategy Center, told AFP.
>
> The tight competition comes as Asian economies move ahead "much more
> aggressively" to upgrade their air defense capabilities, he said.
>
> "It's not quite right to say an arms race, but there is an arms jog in
> Asia," Fisher said.
>
> The United States is currently the sole producer of fifth generation
> fighters -- the F-22s and F-35s. Ex****t of F-22s is barred by law
> while the lower cost F35s have just started flight testing ahead of
> deployment around 2012.
>
> Russia and China's fifth generation fighter offerings could well be on
> the market between 2015 and 2020, a time frame experts say is not very
> far away in terms of defense planning.
>
> "I don't want to get into the numbers because they were given to me in
> confidence but the price the Russians are estimating for their fifth
> generation fighter is substantially less than the Joint Strike Fighter
> (F-35) and substantially less than F-22," US aviation expert Reuben
> Johnson told a Wa****ngton forum last week on "challenges to the Asian
> air power balance."
>
> He said the Russian arms industry was grappling with high production
> costs.
>
> Russian weapon ex****ts to China have also plunged as Beijing became
> more wary over Moscow's sales of its most advanced weaponry to
> neighbor India, Johnson said.
>
> "What is really the challenge is we have two very large countries,
> China and India, whose economies are booming and who are buying lots
> of hardware and we are looking at a situation down the road where they
> are going to have very, very sophisticated air forces," he said.
>
> Russia had already teamed up with India to co-develop and co-produce a
> version of Moscow's fifth generation fighter, but Fisher said that
> given the Indian preference of diversifying its weapons sources, it
> was possible New Delhi could purchase a US fifth generation fighter at
> some point.
>
> The United States is also vying with Russia and others for a 12-
> billion-dollar contract to sell 126 fourth generation fighter jets to
> the Indian air force.
>
> The competition from Russia could prod the Americans to lift an ex****t
> ban on F-22s, eyed by Australia and Japan, top US allies in the
> region, experts said.
>
> US Defense Secretary Robert Gates hinted during a recent Australian
> visit that Congress may be asked to reconsider the ban.
>
> "It is imperative that the United States consider selling some version
> of the F-22 to maintain a strong deterrent posture in Asia," Fisher
> said.
>
> "I would say categorically that Japan requires a capability of the
> level of the F-22 in order to sustain a sufficient position to deter
> China," he said.
>
> Japan and another key US ally, South Korea, have indigenous fifth
> generation fighter programs but their transition to full scale
> development is uncertain.
>
> Australia is also in the midst of a debate over the future of its
> fighter force.
>
> Canberra recently said it would go ahead with the previous
> government's decision to acquire 24 US F/A-18 fighter jets for 5.6
> billion dollars.
>
> It also may review whether to purchase all of the F-35s the previous
> government committed to, or include F-22s in the package as well,
> experts said.
>
> "There is a considerable private lobby and even some bipartisan
> interest in trying to purchase the F-22 because of fear of Russian
> sales to Southeast Asia and China's looming challenge," Fischer said.
>
> Singa****e, with one of the most powerful air forces in the region, is
> seen as probably a good potential customer for the F-35s.
>
> The US-Russia competition for the fourth generation fighters is
> expected to be intense -- but China is emerging as a wild card.
>
> "I would say within the next five years, China will be quite
> competitive at the low cost end of the fourth generation market,"
> Fisher said.
>
> Pakistan, for example, is co-developing a very low cost fourth
> generation FC-1 fighter with China and is very likely going to be the
> first ex****t customer for China's larger J-10 fighter as well, experts
> said.
>
> China is expected to "market aggressively" to Malaysia, Indonesia and
> Myanmar the same two fighters as well as the KJ-200 AWACS aircraft to
> the Southeast Asian region, Fisher said.
>
> Malaysia and Indonesia have purchased
chinese J- 10 fighters still use Russian jet engines .
# The trouble with "defence" weaponry is - the boys and their war toys
eventually go to war. It becomes almost inevitable. After all, a
standing
army has to justify its continued existence, and if war is your
profession,
then you must practise it.
Which is why I give the Mad Ape (us) only a few more decades before
either
climate change, or our mutual antagonism, finishes us off. Peace is the
interval between wars, and war can always be justified.
|
