Effectiveness of China's Air Defence?

cliveersknell said:

With regards to the US talking too much, my comment does not mean to underestimate the US, true the US is still the no.1 power. However, I am troubled, when people like Tom Clancy et al, start talking too much about US military technical details, and give the other side "free consultation" . Clancy's books are a big hit in China, they have been translated into chinese and studied in depth and detail by the PLA and other interested bodies in china.

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cliveersknell said:

1. Give free technical advice to the enemy
2. Fail in it's committment to it's friends and allies.
cheers
Clive

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cliveersknell said:

With regards to the US talking too much, my comment does not mean to underestimate the US, true the US is still the no.1 power. However, I am troubled, when people like Tom Clancy et al, start talking too much about US military technical details, and give the other side "free consultation" . Clancy's books are a big hit in China, they have been translated into chinese and studied in depth and detail by the PLA and other interested bodies in china.
Another thing I want to bring up, is the lack of american committment to help old friends. When I was in Vietnam, one of the people I interfaced with was an ex South Vietnam ARVN grunt. He told me how the US left South Vietnam high and dry . While Kissinger and Le Duc Tho got their nobel peace prizes, the north vietnamese army was preparing a massive offensive against the south. When that happened, the US was not around anymore and South Vietnam fell. Many in Vietnam, particularly from the south do not trust the US because of this lack of committment. In the Philippines, my mom recalled clearly what happened in Dec.1941, the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, but the 2 squadrons of US B17's did not take off, they could have wreaked havoc and prevented the Japs from attacking by carpet bombing the Jap airfields in Formosa. Instead, what my mom saw was the americans running for their lives, abandoning everything, the Jap army entered manila in american jeeps, the generals rode american buicks and cadillacs, the japs used american 105 and 155mm guns against the last holdouts in Bataan and Corregidor. Before the Jap attack, Mac Arthur assured president Quezon that the US will protect and prevent a Jap attack. This was more easily said than done.
These are the reasons why I say the US should not open it's mouth too big:
1. Give free technical advice to the enemy
2. Fail in it's committment to it's friends and allies.
cheers
Clive

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siegecrossbow said:

What alternatives are there though? The fact that the Israelis, with their superior flying skills, went undetected and later knocked out a radar site prevented the Syrians from responding in time. The Syrian air force wouldn't have had time to intercept the incoming threat since fighters respond much slower than SAMs.

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Pointblank said:

It has to be a coordinated effort between your fixed assets and your mobile systems. There is also a need for intensive backup systems that are independent of each other, as the Israeli's managed to not only knock out radar coverage over Syria, they also paralysed communication systems as well.

In other words, the Syrians need to have fighters armed and fueled, with pilots sitting in them or nearby, ready to be in the air in 5 minutes or less. Multiple backup systems need to be in place as well to prevent one attack from knocking the entire system out wholesale.

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siegecrossbow said:

Thnx for clarifying . However I get a feel that although what you are proposing is a bit tough for a small nation like Syria, it shouldn't be beyond China's capabilities. Do you have educated guesses regarding the PLAAF's readiness in the event of a sudden attack?

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Pointblank said:

I would say very poor, especially against an advanced nation that has learned a great deal or is a leader in electronic warfare. Since most Chinese systems today aren't that much more advanced than the higher end Russian gear the Syrians purchased, I would honestly expect the first few days would be utter and complete chaos on the ground while the Chinese struggle to reestablish the situational picture, and trying to communicate and coordinate with their forces through systems that crashed, hijacked and then jammed. Remember the Israeli's used elements of American electronic warfare technology to both crash elements of the Syrian air defence network, and followed up by completely hijacking the system without the operators being aware of what was going on.

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solarz said:

China has been developing their electronic warfare capabilities for a while now. Do you not think they'd be better prepared against this sort of attack than the Syrians?

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Pointblank said:

The Syrians had the latest in Russian gear, complete with Russian advisors. Their entire air defence grid was still knocked out completely. And the Russians are still scratching their heads over how the Israeli's managed to do this.

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