19FortyFive: U.S. non-nuclear deterrents are deteriorating faster and faster, giving China an advantage
The non-nuclear deterrent of the US is falling into decline more and more quickly, while China is becoming more powerful. It was reported by the 19FortyFive edition.
Admiral Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said in early November that when it comes to America’s ability to deter China, “the ship is slowly sinking,” as the Chinese are implementing their capabilities faster than the Americans.
“This means that America’s conventional means of deterrence are increasingly rapidly falling into disrepair. The reasons for this are varied, but one of the most important is the military’s lack of margin. With zero-base budgets, deterrence forces have too little,” the publication notes.
As a result, as the author points out, this leads to deterrents becoming obsolete and their modernization insufficiently rapid. For example, the average age of U.S. Air Force aircraft is 29 years.
Earlier, The National Interest analysts Darren Spink and Liam Gibson expressed the opinion that the US should reduce arms supplies to Ukraine in order to avoid a military disaster in the Taiwan Strait. They noted that Taipei faced delays in arms shipments from the United States because of the escalating conflict. This showed that Washington was unable to arm both the Ukrainian and Taiwanese armies at the same time.