China to rival US civilian and defense aerospace industries?

China to rival US civilian and defense aerospace industries?

Yes.

Well at least that's what Boeing CEO thinks.  This via National Defense Magazine.

Boeing CEO: Chinese Stealth Jet a Harbinger of Things to Come 
Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of commercial airplanes for The Boeing Company, sees a day when China will compete with the United States for the international jet fighter and commercial aviation markets.
China unveiled its stealth fighter jet, the J-20, this week by carrying out a test flight on the second day of the Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ trip.
That timing of the test flight, as well as the aircraft’s true capabilities, have been the source of widespread speculation.
Albaugh, speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., at an Aerospace Industries Association event, said he didn’t want to comment on whether the aircraft posed a security threat. However, it may mean competition for the U.S. industrial base, he added.
“They will at some point in time have a good airplane. We know they will. They went to space. They can probably do anything they want to do. They have the resources. They have smart people,” said Albaugh, who is serving as the 2011 AIA chairman.
Albaugh was previously president and CEO of Boeing Space and Communications.
He has been serving the company on the commercial aviation side for 15 months.
From an industrial standpoint, right now on commercial “we are competing against the Europeans. In the years to come, it’s going to be the Europeans, the Brazilians, the Canadians. It’s going to be the Chinese COMAC [Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China]. It could be the Russians,” he added.
“I think from an export standpoint, we will be increasingly challenged as an aerospace industry because the Chinese are going to be players, too,” he added.

Interesting.

In all the hoopla surrounding the J-20, I never considered the ramifications of this in total. 

A moon landing?

Piece of cake for the Chinese now.

Building modern civilian airlines?

Easy.

Developing state of the art micro-processors?

Definitely.

How did we allow unfettered capitalism to arm a Communist nation with the technology needed to match our own capabilities?

AAV Replacement, Marine Personnel Carrier and a mistake in the making.

First we have this article on Information Dissemination by Roger Galbraith...

In his Op-Ed, LtGen reminds us that the U.S.A. is a maritime nation, and should be equipped and prepared to use the sea to our advantage, to be able to go ashore in the location of our choosing, and that an amphibious vehicle is the backbone of such an effort. Those that say the U.S. will never assault a beach again should look to the recent past for ways we have "used" beaches, if not assaulted them. To the amphibious vehicle, the unimproved beach is just another exit ramp on I-95. However, without amphibious vehicles, the beaches of Miami might as well be the Grand Canyon if the port becomes unusable.

I noticed that LtGen Flynn is careful NOT to mention a tracked vehicle in the article posted today. Previous versions of the article mentioned the tracks. It will be interesting to see if the Corps will truly go back to the drawing board to meet the amphibious vehicle's ship-to-shore problem, or if an EFV by another name will still look like an EFV.

Forgive my ignorance on this point and please read the entire article but I'm somewhat confused.  Does he mean that the next generation AAV might NOT be tracked? Or does he mean that he expects the EFV to simply rise from the dead under a new designation?

Be that as it may, an article from InsideDefence (THANKS JONATHAN!) states that the Marine Corps is about to issue 3 Requests for Information...

Industry sources said the service will make a major investment to extend the lives of existing amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs), while also accelerating the Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC) program and launching a New Amphibious Vehicle (NAV) program based on revised requirements to replace the existing vehicles.

and then this...

The Marine Corps also has a need to provide a medium-lift combat capability to support sustained operations ashore, the notice states. The required MPC -- an advanced-generation, eight-wheeled, armored personnel carrier -- must also provide force protection, land mobility, lethality, and survivability while balancing payload, mobility, transportability and total ownership costs, according to the notice.
The notice states the Marine Corps is “developing both interim and long-term investment strategies and plans” and will release three requests for information (RFIs): one for an AAV upgrade to serve as an interim solution, one for a Marine Personnel Carrier and one for an AAV replacement.

Sorry guys...InsideDefense is subscription only...but my fear is this...Once the USMC gets its MPC, the need for an AAV Replacement will go away.  We'll end up being less, not more amphibious and we'll be taking another step toward either being another land army or heading toward a Commando style force because of all our air assets and lack of armor.

The MPC is a dangerous concept (budget and concept wise) and could end up absorbing all of our ground vehicle money unless we're extremely careful.

My modest proposal (if we must get a wheeled vehicle) is simply to buy off the shelf, the cheapest vehicle available. 

If that means an SEP, Patria, Strker, LAV-25A2 then lets do it, but lets guard the budget like a hawk.

We don't need another 10 year development boondoggle like we just experienced.

F-35B Vertical Landing...the video!

F-35B Vertical Landing...part 2.

The second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing jet, BF-2, prepares for its first vertical landing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011.

The second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing jet, BF-2, prepares for its first vertical landing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011

2nd Battalion 9th Marines--Operation Oasis...

Marines with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, rush towards a CH-53E helicopter after successfully executing Operation Oasis in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. Marines with Golf, 2/9, inserted via helicopter and surrounded a local bazaar making sure no one exited. During the operation, Marines were able to enroll nearly all locals into an identification system database and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

Marines with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, rush towards a CH-53E helicopter after successfully executing Operation Oasis in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. Marines with Golf, 2/9, inserted via helicopter and surrounded a local bazaar making sure no one exited. During the operation, Marines were able to enroll nearly all locals into an identification system database and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

 A Marine CH-53E helicopter shoots flares as it approaches its landing zone during Operation Oasis in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. Marines with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, inserted via helicopter and surrounded a local bazaar making sure no one exited. During the operation, Marines were able to enroll nearly all locals into an identification system database and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

A Marine CH-53E helicopter shoots flares as it approaches its landing zone during Operation Oasis in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. Marines with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, inserted via helicopter and surrounded a local bazaar making sure no one exited. During the operation Marines were able to enroll nearly all locals into an identification system database and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

Lance Cpl. Arthur E. Pew, a rifleman with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, stands security at a shura during Operation Oasis, in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. During the operation Marines, were able to enroll nearly all locals into an identification system database and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

Lance Cpl. Christopher A. Buie, a rifleman with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, takes a picture to enroll a local Afghan into an identification database during Operation Oasis at a bazaar in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3. During the operation, Marines were able to enroll nearly all locals into the system and discuss issues concerning locals at several shuras.

The Land, Air, and Sea Special Operations (LASSO) vehicle

Thanks Anonymous...whoever you are!  This vehicle reminds me of a stretched British Tomcar for some reason...

F-35B Vertical Landing

The second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing jet, BF-2, descends to its first vertical landing on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Fred Schenk piloted the aircraft during the flight.

The second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing jet, BF-2, descends to its first vertical landing on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Fred Schenk piloted the aircraft during the flight.

China testing Indian Border Defences.

via West-Bengal.com...

China crosses Ladakh line again; stops work

The soft talk of premier Wen Jiabao on his recent visit to India apart, Chinese dadagiri on the border in Ladakh continues.
In a revelation that threatens the warming of relations between the two South Asian majors of late, Chinese troops crossed over to the Indian side sometime during September-October and forced the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government to suspend building of passenger sheds atDemchok in Leh district.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel said the territory where the construction was taking place was “disputed”.
Fearing tension, the J&K government stopped work and reported the matter to the Indian army, which guards the line of actual control (LAC) in Ladakh.
“Chinese troops came andtold us to stop work. Our armyalso said unless clearance comes from the ministries of defence and external affairs, no work will be done,” Leh district development commissioner T Angchok said.
He said the work had just begun when it was stopped by the Chinese army.
This is the second time a developmental work has been abandoned in Ladakh under Chinese pressure. Earlier, the J&K government had stopped building a road after PLA objected.
“A portion of the road had been laid when objection came from the Chinese side.We had to abandon the project,” J&K minister for rural development Ali Mohammad Sagar said.
Of late, the Chinese army has been intruding at will. Sometime ago, the troops crossed over and threatened nomads grazing cattle near the border.
In 2009, the Chinese army had violated the international border in Ladakh and painted boulders and rocks in the area red. The troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into India on July 31 near Mount Gya.
Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 and heli-dropped rotten food.
While China has been preventing construction by India, its own misadventures continue. In 2009, for the first time after the 1962 standoff between the two countries, the Chinese army carried out construction along the international border across the Karakoram ranges in Ladakh.
A J&K government reporthad then claimed that the Chinese were taking “land in inches, not in yards”.
Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah has a word of caution.
“We want friendship with China, but at the same time we have to take steps for our security. The Chinese prime minister recently visited India and there was a lot of hope. But unfortunately, water has been poured on some of our expectations,” he said.
—With PTI inputs

I haven't paid much attention to the happenings in Asia.  My mistake.  It appears that part of our world is heating up.