B-21 Bomber Raid Fails, U.S. Think Tank Draws Desperate Conclusion: The Third Island Chain Is Also Not Safe!
Recently, the United States' B-21 "Raider" stealth bomber program has reportedly received a so-called "good news" — the second prototype successfully made its first flight, marking the project accelerating into the testing and deployment phase. However, military analysts at the Pentagon cannot be optimistic.
This is because a recent air combat simulation report released by Northwestern Polytechnical University stated that the Chinese supersonic stealth fighter equipped with "conformal skin" can detect the heat and electromagnetic signals of the B-21 and guide drones to conduct coordinated operations, ultimately successfully shooting down the B-21 and its escort aircraft with hypersonic air-to-air missiles.
However, the research results from Northwest Polytechnical University have poured cold water on this "star of the future." This simulation result reveals the fatal weakness of the B-21 in future warfare — if it cannot break through the air defense network even when operating with a loyal escort, the survival probability of the B-21 when operating alone will be even lower.
The B-21, as a medium-range strategic bomber, has limited range and usually needs to take off from forward bases. This provides the Chinese side with an opportunity for source attacks and long-range interception.
In recent years, due to the rapid rise of the Chinese navy and air force, the U.S. military has begun to reduce its deployment in the First Island Chain and instead regard the core base of the Second Island Chain, Guam, as a key node for future operations against China.
However, once the Guam base falls or is destroyed, the entire Second Island Chain will collapse. In response to this serious situation, the U.S. military has already started to consider contingency plans after the fall of Guam.
Why is the Third Island Chain also unsafe? This stems from the fact that China has already built or is developing various long-range strike capabilities.
The PL-17 ultra-long-range air-to-air missile has a speed of up to 6 Mach and a range exceeding 400 kilometers. More surprisingly, China is also developing the PL-X hypersonic air-to-air missile with a speed of 9 Mach and a range of 1,200 kilometers.
The Type 093B nuclear submarine is equipped with a 24-cell vertical launch system, capable of launching the YJ-21 hypersonic missile, which reaches a terminal speed of 10 Mach and a range of 1,500 kilometers. Against these long-range strike weapons, the Third Island Chain is also in peril, and U.S. think tanks have reluctantly acknowledged this.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845299201230848/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.