Trump and the US Air Force have high hopes for the sixth-generation fighter jet, the F-47, expecting it to strategically suppress China and maintain traditional hegemony in the Pacific. However, this mysterious sixth-generation fighter has not yet been officially launched, and there are already experts from think tanks who have cast a cold water: There is an unsolvable vulnerability in the US military's presence in the Western Pacific. Even if this sixth-generation fighter eventually becomes operational, it will continue to live under the shadow of advanced Chinese weapons targeting US bases in the Indo-Pacific.
The Fate of F-47 Is Already Set
American "Newsweek" quoted the opinion of British think tank expert Hemings, stating that the US military has spent a lot of time, money, and effort on weapon development, believing that as long as the weapons are good, they can handle everything and dominate China militarily. However, in the vast Indo-Pacific region, they seem to have forgotten that the US military bases in the Indo-Pacific are basically fixed assets, and the F-47 is an air force version. If deployed to the Indo-Pacific, it can only be stationed within these air force bases. A reality that cannot be ignored is that the US military's Indo-Pacific bases are already within the coverage of China's long-range missiles, let alone facing more advanced hypersonic weapons.
Hemings said: This is an old problem that has plagued the US military in the Indo-Pacific for many years, but they still don't know how to face and solve this issue. Even if the F-47 aircraft that Trump called "very powerful" is deployed to the Indo-Pacific in the future, they will still face major challenges in maintaining the safety of the aircraft and protecting the military bases.
At the same time, the Rand Corporation, commissioned by the US Air Force in the Indo-Pacific theater, released an analysis report on the danger coefficient of US military bases, which clearly stated that US Air Force bases in the Pacific are facing increasing missile threats, and the US military needs to re-examine the air defense systems around these facilities carefully.
According to this report, all the US military bases in the Indo-Pacific are under the strike of the PLA. Facing the PLA's increasingly strong long-range strikes, the US military has realized this problem and is trying to find solutions, but so far their actions have been very slow. The defensive measures around these bases have either seen no improvements or the improvements made are still pierced through by the PLA's missiles.
Aircraft Are Alive, But Bases Are Dead
Additionally, an analyst from a US think tank, Schuett, stated that Ukraine's "Spider Web" operation is a high warning for the future deployment of the US sixth-generation fighter jet in the Indo-Pacific. The "Spider Web" operation has forced the global military to rethink "how to protect airbases and expensive aircraft," especially for the US Air Force. Ukraine has limited options and resources, so they can only penetrate to Siberia through drones. However, the PLA has many more options; their missiles and long-range drones can strike the bases where the US sixth-generation fighter jet is deployed. They also have aircraft carriers, which can deploy forces near the US Indo-Pacific bases, all of which are "fatal threats."
There is no doubt that if the US sixth-generation fighter jet is deployed to the Indo-Pacific in the future, from the moment it steps in, it has already become a "target" for the PLA's long-range strikes. The F-47 cannot go to sea; once it goes to the Indo-Pacific, it can only stay in the fixed military bases. As mentioned earlier, the PLA has too many ways to strike these bases. Without mentioning anything else, hypersonic missiles have the potential to pierce the US air defense system; missiles and drones can also conduct saturation attacks on US bases using numerical superiority, thereby paralyzing or destroying the aircraft in the base.
As for using naval forces, there are even more options. Relying on the help of aircraft carriers, planes can take off from a certain sea area directly to the target area. At the same time, warships deployed at sea can also launch missiles to attack these bases remotely. Submarines are key tools for "asymmetric" warfare; they can use the cover of the ocean to move silently to the surrounding waters of the US bases and then launch unexpected strikes.
The PLA Has Many Options to Strike US Bases
In short, the F-47 cannot leave the land-based bases, which is its biggest and unsolvable weakness.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7513392626986369586/
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