Spaceplanes have a lot of unresolved issues. Safety is a huge problem since any practical spaceplane design would have the crew sitting on an insane amount of fuel with no launch abort system. Also as we learned with the Shuttle, a single design is totally impractical. It doesn’t make sense to take 25 tons of cargo to…

The US isn’t trying to assert a controversial territorial claim. The Chinese government is trying to prevent other regional players from accessing the oil and gas in the area.

We always have our own interests in mind, but it just so happens that our best interests are also best for the region. We just want to keep the shipping lanes open (and trade moving) and prevent Chinese territorial claims that violate other claims.

Is their advancement really that staggering? They can’t even produce a decent high bypass turbofan engine.

I’m not advising using nukes, but that was the official retaliation for sinking a carrier throughout the Cold War.

The South China Sea is not exactly a Chinese lake. The Paracel and Spratly Islands are hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland (~ 300 and 700 miles respectively). The PLAN cannot match the US Navy even on a regional basis. They come close in sub numbers, but most of the PLAN sub fleet are conventional diesel subs.…

The US has plenty of options, and the US is currently still more powerful than the Chinese in the South China Sea. Why did the Chinese Navy let the US sail a carrier group to the SCS and hold military exercises with Malaysia if they are in total control of the region? The US Navy deploys ships out of Singapore all the…

Here’s a pretty good map of the “nine-dashed line” or “cow’s tongue” that China claims in the South China Sea.

It appears you tried to ask a loaded question but got an unexpected answer. Do you really think the Chinese have the entire region’s best interests in mind? And by “the Chinese” I mean their authoritarian, single-party government.

I guess the US government could just send the Japanese government a bill for the $2.4 billion in aid money spent to stimulate their postwar economy and recovery. The interest is gonna be a doozie.

Since you were a tanker I have to ask, couldn’t he just gear down and slowly crawl up? I’ve operated plenty of civilian tracked vehicles (and loaded plenty too) but I’ve never been in a tank or APC.

All I could think is GEAR DOWN! That and I guess they don’t have detachable lowboy trailers in Russia.

My screen name is just a reference to my alma mater and a play on a movie title.

Working in collaboration for regional benefits usually helps all involved. Working in your own interest doesn’t mean you only seek immediate national gain. Geopolitics is very complex. The potential of another superpower developing is an effective counterweight on its own and is a much less risky strategy. You will…

When it comes to geopolitics, there is rarely a “right and wrong”. Every nation acts first and foremost in its own interest. To do otherwise would be detrimental.

We moved towards a strategy of prevention (of the development of new superpowers) so that we won’t need to deter another superpower. Deterrence is much more expensive.

The Army has no fixed wing aircraft, and Naval Aviation has a different goal than the Air Force. The Marines are sort of the quick response version of the Army that has to coordinate very closely with the Navy.

The answers to most of those questions can be found in a document leaked to the press in 1992. The overall mission of the military (and most foreign policy) hasn’t changed much since.

I went to Crater of Diamonds last year. Pretty interesting place, but I didn’t find anything. All the recent rain is probably uncovering a lot of good finds.

Nixon is one of those guys that everyone hates but nobody actually knows about. The Chinese talks changed everything and they were largely unexpected. The EPA was quite a big deal. I’ll be honest I didn’t realize he signed the MMPA until you mentioned it. Hell that alone should be enough to get a ship named after him,…