Originally Posted by
West Coast
If China prosecutes the first few hours of a conflict in a way that resembles the way the west would, Taiwan won’t have the runways to operate from. That’s where the value of the Harriers comes into play.
where is that like button?
It doesn't seem to matter that the AV8 may not be effective against PRC CAP, they will have their hands full dodging MANPADS and similar. What is valuable is the opportunity to go and do some CAS from FOBs that are essentially unprepared. The distribution of the air assets allows them to last long enough to be an impediment to the beach heads. There is possibly more value in buying gallons of DJI drones, or amping up drone production in Taiwan, Alibaba's orderbooks are probably going to be full or limited to rogue regions, and more MANPADS than PRC has air assets.