Turns out that, once the US got word of the Chinese Navy live-fire exercises being set up, they decided to send their own little message. Each of the subs listed below are retro-fitted ballistic missile boats that no longer can carry nuclear weapons.
I think the first goal of the US Navy should be to make Muslim nations feel good about their contributions to maritime navigation.
Speaking of war games, has everyone here read "Blink?" If so, how much did reading about the MC02 infuriate you? A refresher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002
What does this sort of saber-rattling accomplish in the modern world, Brian? I can see how it would be useful 150 years ago to have a fleet show up suddenly as a show of force, because back then nobody knew exactly how many boats the other guy had and where they were. But nowadays, the Chinese probably know exactly how many subs you have, where they are based, and how long it would take each one to get within range. So what exactly is the point? D'ya think they are scared now? barfo
3 submarines times up to 154 non-nuclear cruise missiles on each sub = 450 targets (mostly buildings) blown up in a country of 1.3 billion people. Followed by a thousand Chinese ICBMs hitting every American urban area down to a population of 10,000. In parallel with an American nuclear attack on China. China is much more rural, so afterward there will be a half billion Chinese living and 10-20 million Americans. With the Chinese economy still functioning, but the American nation extinct. And the Chinese army angrily invading and taking over North America. China says coyly, "Yes...Let's have a nuclear war. We need to cut our population to become more efficient."
The Chinese have a few orders of magnitude less than 10000 ICBMs. And, without going too deep into stuff I can't talk about, I'm not too worried about their ability to launch an ICBM without us doing something about it.
I don't think they're scared, but it shows them the point that we start paying attention. It's all diplomacy, more than anything else. They were seeing how far they could go. We showed them we care. Anyone with a Jane's can see how many subs we have, and they probably have enough intel to know where ours are based out of. They DON'T know where our nuclear subs are. OUR people don't know where our subs are, other than general areas. And seeing 3 of the 4 SSGNs popping up coordinated right before you're doing a frowned-upon live fire exercise isn't fun or face-saving for the other side. And, obtw, those 450 missiles can take out their entire functioning surface Navy a few times over before they get word that we're coming.
Yeah, that makes sense. Awww... That was kind of my point. They already know of our military might, so displaying it seems moderately superfluous. But your answers make sense to me. barfo
