The coming of the revolutionary S-500 air-defense system may completely close Russia and her allies’ airspace from any aerial or even ballistic threats. These developments alone completely devalue the astronomically expensive USAF front line combat aviation and its colossal investment into the very limited benefits of stealth, a euphemism for primarily “invisibility” in radio diapason, the mediocre F-35 being a prime example of the loss of common engineering, tactical and operational sense. Radiophotonics detection technologies will make all expenditures on stealth, without exception, simply a waste of money and resources. No better experts on how to waste resources exist than those sponsored by the US military-industrial complex. The situation is no better at sea. The introduction into service in 2017 of the 3M22 Zircon hyper-sonic missile is already dramatically redefining naval warfare and makes even remote sea zones a “no-sail” zone for any US major surface combatant, especially aircraft carriers. Currently, and for the foreseeable future, no technology capable to intercept such a missile exists or will exist. The US Navy still retains a world-class submarine force, but even this force will have huge difficulties when facing the challenge of increasingly deadly and silent non-nuclear submarines which are capable, together with friendly sea and shore-based anti-submarine forces, to completely shut down their own littorals from any kind of threat. Once access through littorals and the sea and even some oceans zones that matter are shut down, as they are being now, one of the main pillars of American naval doctrine and strategy―the ability to project power―collapses. With it collapses the main pillar of American superpowerdom, or, at least, of its illusion. The late Scott Shuger formulated an American naval contradiction:

"Because navies can go quietly over the horizon in ways armies can’t, naval development presents a country with unique opportunities for going wrong. When a continental power like the United States disregards its natural defense barriers and builds big battle fleets, it has turned from geopolitical realities towards a troublesome kind of make-believe. This kind of navy exists only to defeat other navies that are similarly inclined. That’s justifiable only if other navies like that already exist."

No carrier-centric navies, other than the US Navy, exist, nor will they exist in the nearest future ... --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Martyanov's must-read book is the ultimate Weapon of Myth Destruction (WMD). And unlike the Saddam Hussein version, this one actually exists.

-- "Asia Times" --This text refers to the mp3_cd edition.