Chilling warning US military is ‘drained, strained & shrinking’ despite threats from Putin & Xi

THE US military is “drained, strained and shrinking” while China shows ambition and Vladimir Putin threatens nuclear war, an expert has warned.

Brandon J Weichert exclusively told The U.S. Sun that Washington is “lagging behind” its rival China by more than a decade.

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The chilling warning comes as US defense officials concluded in its 2022 China Military Power Report that Beijing has resorted to “more coercive and aggressive actions” in the Indo-Pacific region over the past year.

They said: “The PRC (People’s Republic of China) presents the most consequential and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free and open international system.”

Experts at the Heritage Foundation revealed in its 2023 Index that the US “is at significant risk” of being unable to handle two Major Regional Contingency events at the same time.

The US Air Force was branded “very weak”, while its space force was ranked “weak”.

Military experts claimed the USAF has problems with an aging fleet and issues with pilot retention, and the Navy is reportedly around 100 battleships short to fight a two-front war.

There are fears that the Navy could continue to shrink to just 280 ships.  

Experts warned: “The U.S. military is [at] a growing risk of not being able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests.”

And Weichert said: “We are, until 2027, in a most dangerous period of time where America’s military is drained, strained, and shrinking.

“Washington is only just now – at least a decade late – waking up to the threat of Beijing. But it’s behind the trends.”

But, defense elites have recently unveiled its new stealth bomber the B-21.

It’s the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft and is designed to survive after hitting even the most heavily defended targets.

One key feature is the capability for it to carry out unmanned missions, with pilots flying it remotely from the USA.

But, China has expanded its military enormously in the past decades.

Defense officials fear that China could field around 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.

Beijing’s nuclear stockpile was 200 in 2020 and now stands at 400 just two years later, according to estimations.

The US military’s nuclear arsenal – an estimated 3,800 warheads in active status – would still surpass China’s presumed total.

A senior defense official said the nation is seemingly concentrating on its “accelerated expansion” to ensure they are ready for war.

Beijing is currently on track to accumulate a fleet of 400 ships in just three years – and another 40 by 2030.

China’s military expansion has escalated fears that the nation could be ready to launch the first move in an attempt to reunify Taiwan.

Brigadier General Robert Spalding III (Ret.) previously told The U.S. Sun that China will invade Taiwan within five years.

He said: “We have to recognize that China has the most powerful military in the Indo-Pacific region and at any time, it can move into Taiwan.”

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin continues to threaten to use a nuclear weapon against the West amid Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine.

Footage showed a Yars strategic missile being placed in an underground shift at a military compound.

The Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, one of Russia’s deadliest weapons, has a 7,500-mile range, making it more than capable of reaching Britain and the US.

Putin was filmed in late October overseeing the launch of a similar Yars nuclear missile as part of a mock attack on Britain and the US.

Missile force commander Alexi Sokolov said: “The homeland will get another nuclear weapon, which will make it possible to solve any tasks at the strategic level.”

And, Russian bombers were seen taking part in drills over the Sea of Japan in a show of might.

Russian writer Oleg Kashin told The Sun that Putin’s worldview has been influenced by spy Georgy Rogozin, who died in 2014.

Kashin said: “The deranged hallucinations of a long-dead Kremlin psychic have resulted in a real war and taken the world to the brink of nuclear war.”

Joe Biden chillingly warned in October that the world stood on the brink of a “nuclear armageddon” for the first time in 60 years.

He said: “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”

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