It’s a bit humbling to see clear mock ups of American aircraft lined up so neatly at a target field in China.
The photo ops might be impressive at U.S. airfields, but too often the reality is that is how American bases look.
Dispersing aircraft or ships in a base environment greatly complicates the security, provisioning, and maintenance. The cranky old O-6s that are normally base commanders are pulling their hair out to make ends meet. If your resources are dispersed across the base and to satellite fields, it makes things more complicated.
I can picture the O-6s begging for more resources to make their bases more ready for conflict. “If I disperse the aircraft or ships, I need a larger guard force, which means I have to “tax” all the base units for even more detailees to support the guard mount” and so on. O-6s are focused on one thing at this time in their careers: Getting to retirement without appearing on the cover of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Coast Guard Times.
Having all your fighters and ships wiped out in a sneak attack will definitely get you on the cover of these papers, and many more.
pearl harbor redux?
Kinda looks like Pearl Harbor/Ford Island December 6, 1941..
The US created a Frankenstein thinking China would grow to think like Westerners. The Nixon/Kissinger effort made many billionaires here and there. But it also possibly dated the end of the US as the world's dominant superpower.