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It irritates me that people mock them on their ability to build a jet engine. Well, humans have proven to be good at problem solving. They're going to eventually figure it out.

America sucked at building rockets. And then we figured out how to build them without it exploding on the launch pad.

Planning for the future by banking on a foes current manufacturing capacity is fucking dumb. China is not someone to underestimate.

Quoted:

A guy wrote an article awhile back about the possibility of a really unhinged right wing American president provoking China into a war and getting a lot of the west coast depopulated along with China being annihilated.

Which would solidify conservative control of national politics for a long time and solidify our global supremacy.

Quoted:

We seem to be in overall agreement over the big picture.

With regard to the Chinese culture, I don't have much of a disagreement with you there.  Although they are experiencing a societal change along the lines that Western Europe did during the industrial revolution.

My point is we cannot afford to underestimate them.  We must overestimate their capability and plan accordingly.

Thank God, the Japanese seem to be waking back up in terms of their defense spending and long term outlook.

What is interesting is that the Japanese are partnering with the British to make the next generation long range A2A missile to be even better than the current Meteor.

Which begs the question, what will be the aircraft the Japanese intend to hang it off?

Partnership on the proposed F-22B and new 6th Gen Fighter would really be a step in the right direction of the US and it's allies in the region staying 1 step ahead of the Chinese.