The US Air Force is moving to arm its Boeing F-15E/EX fighter-bombers with the Pentagon’s latest ship-killing munition, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile.
It’s obvious what the Air Force is worried about: the rapidly expanding and modernising Chinese fleet, which is gearing up to fight its way across the 100-mile Taiwan Strait and land troops on Taiwanese beaches.
If the Americans are going to intervene to save Taiwan, they must do it in the early days of an invasion while Chinese ships are still criss-crossing the strait to deliver people, vehicles and supplies. Once a large invasion force is entrenched on the island, the outcome may be a foregone conclusion – and a dangerous new era for the free countries of the world would have begun.
The Air Force is scrambling to hang its best anti-ship missiles on more types of warplane – so that America can darken the sky over the Taiwan Strait with enough munitions to drown a Chinese invasion during its most vulnerable hours.
A contract notice from the US Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) last week indicated that the Air Force planned to integrate the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C – the LRASM – on 1990s-vintage F-15E Strike Eagles and new-production F-15EX Eagle IIs. Both models of supersonic F-15 share a similar airframe, but the EX boasts better sensors and radar-jammers and expanded weapons carriage.
The US Air Force is moving to arm its Boeing F-15E/EX fighter-bombers with the Pentagon’s latest ship-killing munition, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile.
It’s obvious what the Air Force is worried about: the rapidly expanding and modernising Chinese fleet, which is gearing up to fight its way across the 100-mile Taiwan Strait and land troops on Taiwanese beaches.
If the Americans are going to intervene to save Taiwan, they must do it in the early days of an invasion while Chinese ships are still criss-crossing the strait to deliver people, vehicles and supplies. Once a large invasion force is entrenched on the island, the outcome may be a foregone conclusion – and a dangerous new era for the free countries of the world would have begun.
The Air Force is scrambling to hang its best anti-ship missiles on more types of warplane – so that America can darken the sky over the Taiwan Strait with enough munitions to drown a Chinese invasion during its most vulnerable hours.
A contract notice from the US Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR) last week indicated that the Air Force planned to integrate the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C – the LRASM – on 1990s-vintage F-15E Strike Eagles and new-production F-15EX Eagle IIs. Both models of supersonic F-15 share a similar airframe, but the EX boasts better sensors and radar-jammers and expanded weapons carriage.