On 4 December last year, the semi-monthly magazine "The National Interest" in the United States published a report entitled "The US Air Force Is in a Serious Recession." This article analyzes the two main problems of the US Air Force, revealing its poor "physical fitness". Today, the U.S. Air Force is 76 years old, and the once most powerful air force in the world is facing a severe test.
The primary problem facing the US Air Force is that it is understaffed and the quality is also very poor. Neither the U.S. Air Force's active soldiers nor reserve soldiers met their recruitment targets for 2023, with the former being 11% less and the latter being 30% less than the latter. In order to increase the number of soldiers, the US Air Force had no choice but to relax the conditions for enlistment, such as drug abuse, physical fitness, age, and so on. As a result, the US Air Force has experienced a decline in both the composition and quality of its personnel.
The report also pointed out that the elimination rate of the US Air Force has also dropped from 20% in the 1980s to 027%。This is not to say that the quality of the personnel of the US Air Force has improved, but that the US Air Force has to evaluate it to ensure that its strength is sufficient. This also means that many people who were originally unqualified can also be promoted, from enlistment to training to promotion, all of which have been reduced to new heights. This has caused great damage to the combat capability of the US Air Force. Overall, the US Air Force has serious shortcomings, and its combat capability has fallen to its lowest point in history.
In addition, another problem faced by the US Air Force is outdated equipment and poor serviceability. The US Air Force has been greatly reduced in terms of both numbers and quality. At the peak of the war, the US Air Force had 4,468 aircraft sorties and 331 bomber sorties, and 80 percent of its aircraft had actual combat capability. However, by 2020, the US Air Force has only 32 battle formations, 1,932 fighters, and 140 bombers, and only 60% of them have actual combat capabilities. In the event of a war with China, the U.S. Air Force had only 32 percent of its heyday fighters and bombers.
In addition, the US Air Force has a record number of flights per year. At the height of the Cold War, a fighter pilot flew 200 hours a year. But as of 2022, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots have only 129 hours of flight time a year, and no unit is capable of doing so. This shows that the US Air Force lacks sufficient training and combat experience in the face of complex war conditions. Overall, the U.S. Air Force has problems such as obsolescence and low attendance.
Many Chinese may not believe that this is an intentional effort by the US Air Force to obtain funds. However, the U.S. Congress recently vetoed the U.S. Air Force's cancellation of its F22, 234 F15, 124 F16 and 63 10 strike aircraft. This is due to the fact that the U.S. Congress is concerned about the excessive number of retired fighters, so that there are not enough fighters to use. They expect that those older aircraft, which have been in service for more than 30 years, will hold out until 2030.
In addition, the US Congress will only approve the purchase of 84 F15EX and 220 F35A between 2020 and 2026, that is, about 50 per year. The production plans of Lockheed Martin and Boeing are based on this, and even if the US Air Force shouts that it has a throat, it will definitely not buy one more. The book "The U.S. Air Force in a Deep Recession" is not so much a rush as a medical examination of the U.S. Air Force.
Unlike the US Air Force, China's main aircraft are mostly made in the 21st century, and none of them have been put into service within 15 years. The Chinese "Sanjie", "J-20", "J-16" and "J-10 C", in just 8 years, have been in service with more than 900 aircraft. There are a total of 600 J-10 A and 11 B, all of which are four-and-a-half-generation fighters with only 15 years of service.
At present, the Chinese Air Force has more than 1,500 fourth- or fifth-generation fighters, and the rate of more than 150 fighters per year continues to increase. It has become a reality that the Chinese Air Force has surpassed the US Air Force in terms of fighter strength.
The Chinese Air Force also has more than 70 airborne early warning systems, which is not only more than the 32 E-3 "Watchtower" early warning aircraft of the US Air Force, but also has two eras of flight capability higher than that of the E-3. China also has more than 200 "H-6 K", more than 140 than the US Air Force, but it currently lacks the mass destruction of "H-20". The Y-20 B also quickly caught up with the C17, which had reached 220 units, but the heavy transport ships of more than 400 tons have not yet landed, which is our shortcoming.
The Chinese Air Force also flies more than 200 hours a year, much more than the 129 of the US Air Force. For the Chinese Air Force, actual combat exercises such as the "Golden Helmet" have long become routine. The U.S. Air Force has never been more disciplined and dedicated.
The U.S. military during the Persian Gulf War, which once shocked the world, is long gone, and China's air force has gradually surpassed the U.S. air force and become one of the strongest air forces in the world. By 2027, we will be able to accomplish this task.