{"id":231144,"date":"2016-03-12T17:12:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T17:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/russia-china-closing-in-us-fears-losing-air-dominance-to-more-capable-adversaries\/"},"modified":"2016-03-12T17:12:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-12T17:12:37","slug":"russia-china-closing-in-us-fears-losing-air-dominance-to-more-capable-adversaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/russia-china-closing-in-us-fears-losing-air-dominance-to-more-capable-adversaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia & China closing in: US fears losing air dominance to \u2018more capable adversaries\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top US Air Force personnel have told the Senate they need more funds to modernize the existing military air fleet to ensure the country\u2019s \u201cdominance in the air\u201d and counter Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which are developing their own aircraft faster than anticipated.<\/p>\n

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According to a written testimony<\/a>\u00a0submitted on March 8 by the USAF to the Senate Armed Services subcommittee, American airmen are \u201cengaged defending US interests around the globe, supporting Combatant Commander requirements in response to growing challenges from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0The USAF states that the listed countries, America\u2019s \u201cadversaries,<\/em>\u201d have taken \u201cthe opportunity to invest in and advance their own [military] capabilities.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 The statement further reads: \u201cFor the first time in decades, our adversaries are closing in on our capability advantage.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only recently, the USAF chief-of-staff warned that China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force might be capable of overpowering the American Air Force by 2030.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the rate they\u2019re building, the models they\u2019re fielding, by 2030 they will have made up that aircraft gap of a couple thousand more aircraft [that the US has] and they will be at least as big – if not bigger – than our air forces,<\/em>” General Mark Welsh told<\/a>\u00a0the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee on March 2.<\/p>\n

A report<\/a>\u00a0from the US defense think tank Rand Corp. found that with current NATO forces, Moscow would be able to conquer the Baltics in anywhere from 36 to 60 hours, if they chose to do so.<\/p>\n

Russia has lately been busy upgrading its military air fleet, and \u201cwork on sixth- and, probably, seventh-generation [fighter jets] is going on. I can\u2019t say too much [about it],<\/em>\u201d the country\u2019s Air Force commander, Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, told media on March 2, noting the new planes would be both manned and unmanned. Furthermore, Russia is expected to complete tests of the T-50 (PAK FA) fifth-generation jet by the end of this year. The aircraft is designed as a rival to the US-made F-22 Raptor.<\/p>\n