Adm. William J. Fallon thinks its high time the US military and the Chinese military got together. According to the head of US Pacific Command, the two countries have considerable interaction on political and economic fronts. On a tour of China last week, Fallon told reporters it is time to get military forces working on forging ties to work things like natural disaster relief. It’s time to get over the 2001 encounter in which a Chinese fighter struck a US Navy EP-3 flying in international airspace. The Chinese held the American crew until the US apologized for its aircraft landing in China without permission. (See “The Last Flight of Wang Wei” here.)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
