US Air Force general says more sophisticated fighter jets are needed to deter China
- ‘We have departed the era of conventional overmatch,’ General Mark Kelly, the head of the Air Combat Command, says
- Kelly says that the air force has 48 squadrons of ‘multirole’ fighters but needs 60, and that the shortages are most significant in the Pacific Air Forces
The US has lost its “conventional overmatch” to maintain deterrence over China’s air force, a senior US Air Force general warned on Wednesday as he urged the Pentagon to keep upgrading its fighter jets.
General Mark Kelly, the head of the Air Combat Command, which is primarily responsible for Air Force combat forces, said the People’s Liberation Army air force had nearly caught up to the US Air Force through the rapid deployment of better aircraft with greater capabilities.
“By any measure, we have departed the era of conventional overmatch,” Kelly said in a speech at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference, according to a release from the organisation.
“When you have conventional overmatch, strategic risk is low. But that’s not where we’ve arrived in terms of conventional deterrence.”
Kelly said that the air force has 48 squadrons of what he termed “multirole” fighters, but that the force needs 60 squadrons to meet all the responsibilities it carries: homeland defence, overseas presence and contingencies and crisis response.