Continuing the theme first presented yesterday [4], when we showed that while America's financial situation is in dire straits, it is the strength of its military - that age-old realpolitik variable - or lack thereof...
... that may determine the longevity of the US Dollar as the world's reserve currency, overnight we learned from Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for capabilities and resources, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee's seapower subcommittee that China "is building some fairly amazing submarines and now has more diesel- and nuclear-powered vessels than the United States," although he admitted their quality was inferior.
“They may not be the same quality, but their submarine forces are growing at a tremendous rate. They now have more diesel and nuclear attack submarines than we have,” the admiral told the lawmakers. “They are producing some fairly amazing submarines and they are actually deploying them.”
The top Navy admiral added that China was also expanding the geographic areas of operation for its submarines, and their length of deployment. For instance, China had carried out three deployments in the Indian Ocean, and had kept vessels out at sea for 95 days, Mulloy said.
Are the subs armed with nuclear ICBMs?
“We don't think they have nuclear weapons on board, but we've seen them producing the missiles and testing them,” the admiral said. "We know they are out experimenting and looking at operating and clearly want to be in this world of advanced submarines.”
So is America on the verge of another arms race? It sure seems like it based on the Admiral's implicit message that the US will need to catch up to China, if not in quality then in quantity.
U.S. military officials in recent months have grown increasingly vocal about China's military buildup and launched a major push to ensure that U.S. military technology stays ahead of rapid advances by China and Russia.
Mulloy said the quality of China's submarines was lower than those built by the United States, but the size of its undersea fleet had now surpassed that of the U.S. fleet. A spokeswoman said the U.S. Navy had 71 commissioned U.S. submarines.
In its last annual report to Congress about China's military and security developments, the Pentagon said China had 77 principal surface combatant ships, more than 60 submarines, 55 large and medium amphibious ships, and about 85 missile-equipped small combatants.
The real question is "who benefits." The answer: 'U.S. submarines are built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. and General Dynamics Corp."
Who? Oh these guys:
And since we live in a Fed-controlled, M.I.C.-dominated world, it may be a good idea to buy the stock of these two dominant powers in the MIC, who are about to get an unexpected present courtesy of the nascent arms race resulting from the second cold war.
So is China's sub fleet really that technologically behind? We leave it up to readers to decide: in October 2013 we presented "First Glimpse Of China's Nuclear Submarine Fleet" [5]in which we wrote "China has revealed that its first fleet of nuclear submarines has started sea patrols, in the latest sign of its military’s growing confidence which has raised concerns in the region. Xinhua, China's official news agency, released photographs of what appeared to be Xia-class vessels – China’s first generation of nuclear-armed submarines, which are several decades old – saying they were being “declassified” for the first time, adding with supremely colorful language that, the subs would "gallop to the depths of the ocean, serving as mysterious forces igniting the sound of thunder in the deep sea", and be an "assassin’s mace that would make adversaries tremble""
