I cut this from a Yahoo Headline....
Maybe the Chinese Soldiers in South America
will become a headline too before long...
And yes, I am still on my meds
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39 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. fears of a rising China are spurring billions of dollars worth of weapons projects, from nuclear-fueled attack submarines to fighter jets to destroyers.
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Even as President George W. Bush prepares to welcome President Hu Jintao to the White House on Thursday with full military honors, Washington is factoring in potential conflicts over such sore spots as Taiwan, competition for scarce resources and any threat to its predominance in Asia.
"Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages absent U.S. counter strategies," the U.S. Defense Department said in a long-term strategy review released in February.
The focus of the U.S. approach to China remains to prod it into playing a constructive regional role and to be a partner on security challenges from terrorism to curbing the spread of weapons, narcotics and piracy.
But in its long-range blueprint, the Pentagon laid out plans for "prudent hedges against the possibility that cooperative approaches by themselves may fail to preclude future conflict" with powers such as China.
Among China-related moves, the Pentagon said it would build -- two decades sooner than originally planned -- a "long-range strike capability" to be ready by 2018 while modernizing the U.S. bomber force of B-1s, B-2s and B-52s.
The new project could involve manned or unmanned bombers as well as directed-energy weapons such as lasers.
The U.S. Air Force has already begun to deploy the radar-evading, F-22A "Raptor" multirole fighter jet, designed to knock out advanced surface-to-air missiles and enemy fighters.
"Deterring or defending against potential aggression by the PRC is the strongest argument for the F-22A," said Christopher Bolkcom, the top warplane expert at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, using initials for the People's Republic of China.
The Air Force hopes to buy at least 176 F-22As, which would be built through 2012 by Lockheed Martin Corp., the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, at a projected $62.6 billion, including development costs. More than 50 have been delivered.
BIG SPENDING
Another big-ticket item that might be built in lesser numbers if not for the perceived China threat is the Virginia-class nuclear submarine. In its long-range blueprint, the Pentagon called for doubling to two per year the number bought by the Navy by 2012 at a cost of $2 billion apiece.
The submarines are built by General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp..
The same companies are building the Navy's next-generation DD(X), a destroyer designed to appear on enemy radar screens as no bigger than a small fishing boat.
The first two DD(X) destroyers, which can attack land targets with precision weapons and new long-range guns, are to be purchased in fiscal 2007 at a combined cost of $6.6 billion. The Bush administration is planning to buy seven of them as part of a projected 313-ship Navy in the coming years.
"The fleet will have greater presence in the Pacific Ocean, consistent with the global shift of trade and transport," the Pentagon said in its strategy paper. It said 60 percent of U.S. submarines would be based there, up from 50 percent now, and at least six aircraft carriers, up from five now.
Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said last month that China's military buildup was forcing the United States to revise plans for any showdown over Taiwan -- the U.S.-armed, self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.
Roger Cliff of the RAND Corporation, a not-for-profit company that conducts many studies for the Pentagon, said China was turning out weapons comparable in capability to the systems that still make up the bulk of those used by U.S. forces.
"If the United States is to keep its qualitative military advantage over China, therefore, we will need to continue to develop and field systems that are significantly more advanced than the types currently in our inventory," he said.
