Sure, something to worry about, but the author's predictive powers about a military scenario in 2017 lose a lot of credibility when he has this paragraph stuck in the middle:
From the main battle tank, the Abrams M1A1, to Cobra attack helicopters, to Marine vertical take-off and landing Harrier jump jets, to the U.S. Air Force’s crown jewel, the B1 stealth bomber, to the magnificent armadas that the U.S. Navy can deploy with its nuclear powered aircraft carriers, attack submarines, and destroyers anywhere on the face of the globe, the Chinese military leadership had reason to worry.
Our lead in this military hardware is why the Chinese leapfrogged us with devastating cyber-war and space-based EMP attacks in this article. But this hardware description is not accurate today. The M-1A1 is not our front line tank. The Harrier is about four decades old. We've had AH-64 Apache attack helicopters for a couple decades now. I think the Marines still fly Cobras. And our stealth bomber is the B-2 and not the B-1 Lancer, which cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called a crown jewel.
Oh, and he mentions our Navy a little further on, stating that our two carriers dispatched to confront the Chinese some time ago had 400 aircraft between them. I don't think we could squeeze 400 future UCAVs on two carriers. The carriers could carry 70-80 as a ballpark figure--including helicopters. Perhaps a bit more depending on what is squeezed on. But 200 each? Not going to happen.
Look, I'm not a technology freak who knows every weapon's technical specifications. And I'm not one to jump on minor errors of this type. I'm sure I make them, too. But this type of pretend knowledge that tosses off weapon names to prove you know your stuff can backfire on you when you get it wrong. And the author got a lot wrong.
We do have particular issues to deal with without going into fanatasy land.
Can China really target our carriers at sea with ballistic missiles? If so, can we evade them? Shoot them down? Can we destroy the targeting systems? Can we destroy the launch sites?
Can Guam protect itself against those missiles? Can we keep the airfield operating?
Are we making good our ASW training and equipment to combat China's increasingly capable submarine fleet?
Do we have backups in case our satellite communications are degraded?
How would an EMP strike affect us?
Can we penetrate the obstacles the PLAN will put in our way quickly enough to engage the Chinese invasion force landing on Taiwan?
By all means, keep an eye on the Chinese. They can harm us without surpassing us. But they aren't ten feet tall. And they aren't likely to experience a growth spurt in the next decade sufficent to challenge our command of the sea or discover magical means to undermine our expensive fleet without having to spend much themselves.
Like the author said, it is just in his imagination.
