Lets compare some ORBATs when talking about US-Chinese air superiority (since I see Avinash spouting things that are technically true, but very misleading):
The Chinese do have modern fighters, but very few. The vast majority of their airforce is very archaic.
From Wikipedia, it shows that they have:
Fighter/Interceptors:
125 J-11's (SU-27 clones. Most are early SU-27s without the advanced avionics suite the 11B has)
120-160 J-10's (F-16 clones)
400 J-8's (SU-15 clone. See J-7)
500 J-7's (Mig 21 clones....Useless other than human wave tactics. Unless they were fighting in Korea, Taiwan or Japan, they would be fodder. Our PHALANX systems would have a field day with these things)
100 SU30MMK's (Top-O-The-Line Russian fighter/bombers. Very good aircraft)
76 SU27 Flankers (Very good as well)
Bombers:
100 JH-7's (F-111/SU24 clones. Decent, but nowhere near top of the line)
120 H-6's (TU16 clones. Very good heavy bombers)
480 Q5's (Mig 19 clones...Useless ground attack aircraft)
Now, when you argue about America's capability to attack China, you have to remember: We wouldn't just use naval aircraft. We have multiple bases in the theater in Japan, Korea and Guam. This would allow an influx of aircraft that aren't usable on a carrier such as the F-22, B52, B1, and others.
The airbase at Kadena, Japan, would be especially difficult to deal with by the Chinese, since it lies only a few hundred miles from the Chinese coast...Certainly close enough to launch any aircraft to attack the shores of China.
And the US has:
67 B-1 Lancers
21 B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers
85 B-52 Stratofortresses
196 A-10 Thunderbolts
500 F-15 Eagles
700 F-16 Falcons
97 F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters
25 C-130 Spooky/Spectres
Then add in the roughly 500 F-18's in service with the Navy, and you'll see why the US air force would decimate the Chinese airforce. China has roughly 400-500 decent fighters with the J10/11 and the SU 27's and 30's. The US has roughly 3 times that number in modern aircraft.
The US would achieve air superiority quickly. The only real question is how skilled are Chinese pilots (which I think favors the US heavily), and how good their air defense is, which is a major cause of concern. IMO, the major issue if the US ever had to fight on Chinese soil would be their air defense capabilities...Which would be viscous. Ultimately, the US would win, but we'd have a lot of great aircraft shot down due to ADA, not Chinese airforce.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
