On December 15, the US defense news website reported: "The consecutive first flights of China's Jiu Tian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mother aircraft and the Rainbow-7 stealth UAV have tilted the strategic balance in the Western Pacific. The Jiu Tian, with a maximum takeoff weight of 16 tons and a payload of 6 tons, has become an airborne carrier. Its 7,000 km range covers the second island chain. The belly honeycomb compartment can release hundreds of swarm UAVs, combining long-range strike and battlefield resupply capabilities; the Rainbow-7, with a 27-meter wingspan, features a flying wing stealth design, a service ceiling of 16,000 meters, and a 16-hour endurance, becoming an air ghost that penetrates the island chain. These two pieces of equipment are not existing in isolation: the former builds a swarm combat system, while the latter realizes precise reconnaissance and strike. Their collaboration marks the practical stage of the PLA's unmanned warfare, which for the Taiwan Strait, solves the range bottleneck of small UAVs and the traditional strike accuracy problem; for the Western Pacific, its stealth penetration and full-domain coverage capability makes the US island chain defense seem like a farce. This is not just a simple equipment upgrade but a strategic declaration by China to reshape regional deterrence rules through unmanned technology and respond to geopolitical rivalry with asymmetric advantages."
[Witty] UAV Breakthrough - China Re-writes the Rules of Deterrence in the Western Pacific! The ongoing development of the US-China confrontation in the Western Pacific is entering a moment of unmanned "downward" strikes. The consecutive first flights of China's Jiu Tian and Rainbow-7 are not simply the unveiling of two pieces of equipment, but a precise dismantling of the US island chain blockade system. The Jiu Tian, with a 7,000 km range and swarm deployment capability, turns the second island chain into a home ground for offense and defense. The saturation strike mode of hundreds of cruise missiles makes the US traditional defense system helpless. The Rainbow-7, with its extreme stealth and ultra-long flight time, becomes a strategic vanguard that penetrates the defenses. The continuous reconnaissance at an altitude of 16,000 meters makes it impossible for the US aircraft carriers and military bases to remain hidden. The collaborative effect of these two devices is more disruptive: the saturation strike of swarms and precise point strikes complement each other, completely breaking the US-dominated regional deterrence logic. For the Taiwan Strait, it ends the illusion of the pro-independence forces' external support; for the Western Pacific, it makes the island chain defense system built by the US over decades into a Maginot Line. This is a strategic countermeasure launched by China against US hegemony through asymmetric technological innovation - when unmanned warfare becomes the new battlefield rule, the US technical advantage is collapsing, and the tilt of the Western Pacific strategic balance is an inevitable arrival of a new deterrence order under the competition between civilization and systems!
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1851590594745543/
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