Dave Majumdar

During March, the U.S. Air Force deployed three of its twenty B-2 stealth bombers to the Asia-Pacific region for training. But should the United States consider permanently basing stealth bombers in the region? In the case of the B-2, logistically it would probably not make any sense to permanently base the aircraft overseas with only twenty aircraft in the total fleet. However, the Pentagon hopes to buy between eighty and 100 new Northrop Grumman B-21 Long Range Strike-Bombers (LRS-B) in the 2020s. As China's power continues to grow, there is a case to made for basing some number of those aircraft in the region.

State-run Chinese media is claiming that the People's Liberation Army has been able to track the U.S. Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighters over the East China Sea. While the Chinese report might be easily dismissed as propaganda—it is not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact—it's very possible that China can track the Raptor. Stealth is not a cloak of invisibility, after all. Stealth technology simply delays detection and tracking.

China has deployed the powerful HQ-9 air and missile defense system to Woody Island—also known as Yongxing—in the Parcel archipelago, marking a new level of escalation in Beijing's quest to control the South China Sea. The disputed island—which has been inhabited by about 1,000 Chinese citizens since 1956—is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

In the decades since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. Navy’s carrier strike groups have been the dominant force across the world’s oceans. Even the Soviet Union never really managed to challenge the U.S. Navy’s mastery of the seas. But as of late, there is growing concern that China’s People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) may be stepping up to the plate.

China’s Shengyang J-11 unlicensed derivative of the Russian-developed Su-27 Flanker has become the mainstay of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). While the Chinese-built jets are not able to match U.S.-built fighters one-for-one, China is building a lot of them. Down the road, advanced derivatives of the J-11 might become every bit as capable as the most advanced versions of American and allied fourth-generation fighters like the F-15 or F-16. Even fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters might be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Chinese jets and the problems associated with the lack of bases in the Western Pacific.