Technical problems not confined to US space station:
'GAO examined 49 aircraft and found that only four met their annual mission capable goal in a majority of the years from fiscal years 2011 through 2021.
As shown below, 26 aircraft did not meet their annual mission capable goal in any fiscal year. The mission capable rate—the percentage of total time when the aircraft can fly and perform at least one mission—is used to assess the health and readiness of an aircraft fleet.'
'Think about the implications of this. The United States defense budget for FY 2022 is $715 billion. This is almost two and a half times the defense budgets of China and Russia combined.'
'For fiscal year 2021, GAO found that only two of the 49 aircraft examined met the service-established mission capable goal. More specifically, for fiscal year 2021, 30 aircraft were more than 10 percentage points below the mission capable goal in fiscal year 2021; and 17 aircraft were 10 percentage points or less below the mission capable goal in fiscal year 2021.
Many of the selected aircraft are facing one or more sustainment challenges, as shown below. According to program officials, these challenges have an effect on mission capable rates.'
The planes are deficient in the following areas:
Unexpected replacement of parts and repairs.
Delays in depot maintenance.
Shortage of trained maintenance personnel.
Unscheduled maintenance.
Diminishing manufacturing source.
Parts obsolescence.
Parts shortage and delay.
'Prior to the start of World War II, the United States had 790 active ships. By the end of the war, that number soared to 6084. Today’s fleet is half-the size of the U.S. fleet at the dawn of World War II. The U.S. Navy is now a carrier centered force, as I have discussed in previous posts. Its ability to project force has diminished over the last ten years as Russia and China have developed effective hypersonic missiles that can defeat the current air and missile defense systems in place ostensibly to protect the Carrier task forces from attack.
The critical difference between now and December 7, 1941 is the dramatic decline in the U.S. industrial base.
After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States built and deployed 5,294 ships–e.g., aircraft carriers, battleships and destroyers–in three years.The United States was producing on average 147 ships a month.
Today, it takes 5 to 7 years to build and deploy an aircraft carrier. In the event of a war with Russia and/or China, the United States can no longer churn out the volume of naval craft it did in World War II. Just because the ships are loaded up with more advanced technology does not automatically translate into greater combat effectiveness and longevity.'
Link to article: https://sonar21.com/if-you-think-the-united-states-is-ready-for-a-conventional-war-with-russia-or-china-think-again/
Anonymous
Naval strength is less of an advantage in today's military strength that relies largely on unmanned drones, hypersonic missiles, nuclear submarines, and cyber warfare like taking down sensitive facilities like communication systems that rely on electrical power.
ReplyDeleteAircraft carriers are sitting ducks nowadays, and of what purpose are support ships if they cannot protect carriers against hypersonic missiles that defy tracking due to their speed.
Like history in the past, wars were first fought with clubs and sticks, then bows and arrows, then small arms and grenades, then tanks, then propellar driven war planes, to jet propelled fighter planes. Now, it is a whole new ball game that makes WW2 weapons more or less obsolete.
When WW2 ended and USA became the sole superpower by default, their policy of putting down competition lead to their own decline in technological innovation. Their successful stifling of competition from Japan and Germany gave them the arrogance that no other country is now able to compete with them technologically. And they stagnated.
ReplyDeleteThe USA obviously overlooked China in their arrogance. How could the USA and the West promote China as an advancing behemoth, when the USA, the West and the MSM were drumming into the mindset of their citzens, the myth that China was poor, backward and underdeveloped. A dictatorship nonetheless, but one that puts people above wars and destruction. The USA and the West could not find a good excuse to downplay their lies that democracy triumphs communism, knowing what China had achieved with their communist system.
The internet and ease of travel demolished all that myth and it became a mad scramble to contain China's rise. Too little too late was the realisation. Now, the only way was by using demonisation, fabrication, inventing threats, utilising sanctions and rallying doggies to confront China.
Sometimes, using tricks too many times, like crying wolf too often, makes the same old trick failing to do it's dirty work and could instead be detrimental, and backfiring is the result. Take sanctions by using the US$ hegemony for example. Many countries were sanctioned heavily by the USA and the West, but as time goes by, countries learn how to circumvent those sanctions. 60 long years of sanctions failed to destroy Cuba. 70 long years of sanctions against North Korea made it stronger and nuclear capable. And what of Iran and Venzuela, now still as alive as ever.
Now the sanctions on Russia has unleashed the realisation that de-dollarisation is the only way forward from the rest of the world. And it has speeded up the process that led to the formation of BRICS to undertake the de-dollarisation movement. Saudi Arabia now holds the final key to free the world from the US$ hegemony. Moving the oil trade away from supporting the US$ hegemony will lead to it's free fall from global reserve currency status. A desperate USA may resort to desperate moves in desperate situatins to sabotage all this. MBS must be wary of the CIA.
Finally an American sanction has backfired on the Americans. The sanction on Russia is going to bring down the American Empire.
ReplyDeleteSaudi Arabia must be on high alert for a regime change. MBS must be careful of an assassination attempt on him.