War With China Is CHEAP!

Time for a good deal on war! Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell, and I just want to say thank you Iran! I know that's probably not what you were expecting, but let me explain. The Iran War may have given the US exactly what it needs to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion and destroy the Chinese Communist Party. Now I know, I know, that's usually the opposite of what people say the Iran War has done. For decades, the US military has been the unquestioned dominant military power. Now that might be changing. Xi Jinping has transformed the People's Liberation Army into a fighting force that is at least a near-peer competitor. It's like a dark version of the Mighty Ducks. And its near-term goal is clear. Conquer Taiwan. The US has gotten really good at blowing up terrorist cells in the desert, but a war with China over Taiwan would be like nothing the US has faced in decades. Unless the US can convince China to go into the desert. Hey Xi, come over here, there's something I want to show you. And so it might be a problem that the US has used virtually all of its long-range precision missiles during the Iran war. Oh dear. Now, take that with a grain of salt. No one knows exactly how many missiles the US has. that's classified. All of these articles that say the US is running out of weapons all come from anonymous sources or watchdogs that don't actually have any specific numbers. The only numbers you can trust come from this guy. But even he's pretty shady, well, with having to stick to the shadows lest the sun makes him explode. But still, the US has used plenty of ammunition in the Iran war. No one's saying the US has an unlimited amount. We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful, that we have unlimited, virtual unlimited supply. This is like when Trump talked about the discombobulator. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced they also had a BFG, and that doesn't stand for big friendly giant. But regardless of whatever secret weapons Trump is getting from the aliens or the doom guy, there's a problem with this analysis. Even if the Iran war had never happened, the US still wouldn't have had enough long-range missiles to win a war with China. It would have failed. So see, this situation isn't bad, it's terrible. Feel better? That's what this report, Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said way back in 2023. But you'll notice that despite the US supposedly being unprepared for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, China hasn't actually yet invaded Taiwan. And that's because, despite what some will say, war has changed. When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was expected the mechanized, industrial Russian war machine would make quick work of Ukraine. It's been almost five years. Russia still hasn't won. And what made the difference was drones. Ukraine has made incredible use of drones. What technological marvels, they can take annoying footage at a wedding and even sink Russian warships! Possibly at the same time, depending on the theme of the wedding. People even began to question whether Russia could hold out. A few months into the war, Russia realized their reserves of long-range missiles were getting scarce. And so they began buying Iranian Shahed-136 drones, eventually making their own production lines. Soon, Russia began sending drone swarms against Ukraine, which is exactly what Ukraine is now doing to them. It's like a higher stakes, less entertaining BattleBots. Around the world, countries saw what drones could do. Even Iranian-backed Houthis were now overwhelming Saudi defenses using a combination of missiles and drones. And in the early days of the Iran War, Iran used hundreds of drones to target Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The US, meanwhile, was using primarily conventional airstrikes against Iran. Ugh, this is so 2000 and late. But there was one exception. The Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUKAS. Get this. It's reverse engineered from the Iranian Shahed 136, you know, the one Russia was using? Yeah, the US, the innovator of the most terrifying weapons known to man, is now using knockoff Iranian drones. And this thing is cheap, about $35,000 compared to the typical multi-million dollar missiles the US uses. And this reverse engineered Iranian drone may be the key to beating China. This report by the Center for a New American Security talks about the role of affordable mass in a Taiwan conflict. And no, that's not a sketchy protein supplement. Yet. It's about overwhelming an opponent with cheap, mass-manufactured drones. Quantity over quality. Just like at Golden Corral. There are well over 2,000 potential military targets that the United States may want to destroy in a war with China. And that is a logistical nightmare. It's not simply about reaching a target and getting through all its defenses. It's also about the cost to make all the weapons it takes to do that. Missiles are expensive, man. So what if instead the US focused more on cheap drones? In fact, what if America went all-in on cheap disposable weapons? After all, that's what China does. They call that weapon the average Chinese soldier. Well, that really wouldn't work. For three reasons. One of them is range. CNAS shows this map of Chinese military targets. Everything in green is effectively out of reach. If only the US still had that base in Bagram, Afghanistan. But alas, then there's the cost issue. To make a cheap drone go further, it would need to hold more fuel. Which would make it bigger, which means it needs more fuel, which means it quickly starts to not be a cheap drone. Especially when you factor in the hundreds or thousands you'd need, because the other problem is these kinds of drones just aren't that powerful. They can't take out hardened or buried targets, unlike a bunker buster bomb, which the US first used in the Iran war back in June. Just learning all kinds of lessons from Iran. So because of financial range and power limitations, kamikaze drones just won't win a war with China. But remember, we're talking about an invasion of Taiwan. Which means it doesn't matter what China has in the green zone, because everything that matters will be in the southeast near Taiwan. Which means the goal isn't to hit everything China's got. It's sinking the invasion fleet and suppressing coastal Chinese fighter air bases. It isn't capture the flag, it's king of the mountain, but with a little more PTSD. And for that, drones could be absolutely key. Let's start with sinking the invasion fleet. It would be protected by the Renhai-class cruiser, one of the Chinese air defense ships. So how do you take out the cruiser? Well, the US could use long-range anti-ship missiles. They're powerful, stealthier, so harder for Chinese defenses to take out. They're not strong enough to actually sink the ship, but if it knocks out Renhai's radar or bridge, it would be effectively blinded and useless in combat. What's called a mission kill. The CNAS report suggests that six would be all it would take to knock out a single cruiser. Maybe less if you have one of these geniuses captaining the boat. But each missile costs 3.2 million dollars. So taking out one ship carries a price tag of 19.2 million dollars, assuming six is really all it takes. Also this just reminds me of the importance of making a budget, whether for groceries or repelling murderous communists. I'm sorry, murderous communists is redundant. Another option would be drones. Each one is cheaper, about $200,000, but they're less accurate and easier to shoot down. CNAS suggests it would take 140 of these to achieve a mission kill, which puts the price tag at $28 million for one ship. Man, we need to make war cheaper. That way it'll be more equitable and everyone can enjoy it. But what if you used both? Have the cheaper drones scout the ships, take the brunt of enemy fire, and then follow up with a couple of missiles. CNAS suggests a jab of 25 drones followed by an uppercut of three missiles is all it would take, bringing the price tag down to just 14.6 million. Of course, the cheapest option would be to just use a bunch of really cheap drones for that initial jab, and then some more expensive drones for the uppercut. That option might require only 47 drones and cost just 9.4 million dollars, a huge savings. See, budgeting works. And most importantly, this costs no American lives. Think about that the next time you hear one of those conservative influencers saying defending Taiwan is impossible. Also think about cleaning up your algorithm. So that's the Chinese invasion fleet taken care of. What about Chinese bases? The report uses this base as the archetype, the Hui'an Air Base, just about 168 miles from Taiwan. Now, there are some things about bases that make them easier to attack than ships. They're not, you know, moving in the middle of the ocean. But they'll be further away, so you need longer-range weapons, which gets pricier, and also means the PLA will have more time to detect them and shoot them down. And then there's also the problem of what do you actually target? Storage bunkers? The air defenses? Admin buildings? Runway? Hangars? Parked aircraft? The parking garage, so people who work there get annoyed having to walk further before clocking in? That also affects what you actually shoot. Blowing up a parked aircraft is a lot easier than blowing up a hardened bunker. To destroy those, you need a powerful missile. A drone won't cut it. This particular airbase has 80 distinct aim points, 59 of which are soft, 18 hardened, and 3 buried. To destroy everything. That would require 413 joint air-to-surface standoff missiles at $2 million a pop for a total of $826 million. That's like three Avengers movies. It almost seems cheaper to just make a real Hulk and send him in. What about doing something similar to what we did with the Renhai? Pepper it with some of those cheaper Lucas drones, though the more expensive ER variant. Only $100,000 a pop, better range than the base model, but not strong enough to take out the hardened targets. But then we would finish those off with joint air-to-surface standoff missiles. Well, that would take about 25 Lucas drones, and still almost 300 joint air-to-surface standoff missiles for a price tag of about half a billion. Again, not great. Can we get it cheaper? Oh god, this is sounding like an infomercial before war. What do we do with the landmines? Set it and forget it. Remember, the goal here is to stop a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, not completely annihilate every Chinese airbase. All the US needs to do is disrupt the PLA enough that they can coordinate the invasion. And this is where Lucas, that reverse-engineered Iranian drone, really comes into play. Thanks, Iran! Let's say we didn't need to take out everything on the base. What if we just focused on the runways? The Lucas drones aren't powerful enough to destroy a reinforced concrete runway, but a swarm of them would use up enemy defenses, kind of like fighting 100 duck-sized horses. It's easier than one horse-sized duck, but it's still going to cause issues. The Lucas drones could blow up parked aircraft, or at least get them to take off. Which means they wouldn't be headed to Taiwan. Then you use just a handful of joint air-to-surface standoff missiles to ruin that reinforced runway. And the airbase is suddenly like a kaleidoscope to a blind person. Effectively useless. Now, Chinese forces can repair runways within hours. But hours in an invasion makes a difference. And even if they do manage to repair the runways, we can just rinse and repeat because this option requires 235 Lucas drones and just 8 missiles for a grand total of 39.5 million dollars. Again, this is sounding so much like an infomercial I almost want to say, act now and I'll throw in a free war crime. Seriously, these drones may have been one of the best things to have come out of the Iran war. Of course, this all depends on the US actually mass manufacturing these drones, replenishing missile stockpiles, and of course, having the political will to use them to defend Taiwan. That last thing depends on you. Make sure to elect representatives who understand the importance of standing up to the CCP and defending Taiwan. If you're not sure about your representatives, write to them and tell them why this is so important. And above all, ignore those influencers who tell you Taiwan isn't worth it. I'm sure that all of you watching this episode understand why it's so important to stand up to the CCP. But many Americans are falling for the CCP's information warfare. A survey published last month by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs shows that Americans favor greater engagement with Beijing. In this survey, 57% of Americans say the US should undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with China. Survey after survey this year shows that Americans feel way more positive about China than they did even two or three years ago. That's not good, because guess what? China doesn't want to undertake friendly cooperation and engagement with the US. They want to defeat the US. And they will. Unless Americans wake up to the threat from the Chinese Communist Party. It's up to us to get that message out there. All of us. Together. Because after years of dealing with YouTube suppression, I can't do this alone. I need you. Join the fight against the CCP by becoming a member of my 50-cent army. Those are fans of China Uncensored who make it possible for us to do the show by subscribing on our website ChinaUncensored.tv. As a member, you'll get exclusive episodes, monthly livestreams where I answer your questions, and you'll be part of an active community that cares about defeating the CCP. And for a limited time only. If you join with an annual premium or VIP subscription, you get this exclusive, for legal reasons I can't call it Lego, even though it is made of Lego, Tank Man set. Put Tank Man on your desk at work in the background of your Zoom calls. Have fun with it. And by joining my 50 cent army, you'll be supporting China Uncensored directly. No YouTube shenanigans. But we only made 400 of these Tank Man sets, and they're already going fast. So click this button here or the link below. Do it now. I'm Chris Chappell. See you on ChinaUncensored.tv.