Comments on: China, Vietnam, and Naval Nerf Wars

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Fri, 30 May 2014 16:39:25 +0000

I quit reading Brecher a long time ago because of stuff like this. He always smothers his sometimes valid point in hyperbole to the point that they are no longer valid at all.

In this, he has some pretty good company with some of the “Military Reformers” like Pierre Sprey and James Fallows — they have some good points, but they go too far. Do we pay too much for our weapons? Absolutely. Would we be better off with simpler, more robust weaponry? In many cases, yes. Have our procurement policies resulted in lots of expensive disasters? Beyond question. Would we have been better off emulating the Soviets with regard to weapons, as many military reformers advocated in the 1980s? Absolutely not.

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Thu, 29 May 2014 22:20:58 +0000

Starts okay then loses a lot of credibility when he goes in for the whole “Dong Feng of DOOOOOOM!” idiocy. As usual, Gary Brecher has a decent handle on human factors but falls flat on his face when it comes to technology.

The DF-21 is a nifty weapons system, but it’s hardly the world’s first ballistic anti-ship missile, not to mention that the US Navy has been beefing up its ABM capabilities for more than a decade now.

By: Bob Sykes

Bob Sykes — Thu, 29 May 2014 11:03:30 +0000

I believe the British had pre-dreadnoughts with rams right up to WW I. Maybe they should take a couple out of museums and recommission them.