"China has a billion people and a lot of really smart ones." So does India. So does Africa. 1) "But functioning prototypes do exist and have fired missiles."

"China has a billion people and a lot of really smart ones." So does India. So does Africa. 1) "But functioning prototypes do exist and have fired missiles." I agree, but what do those prototypes actually do? Is the real question. 2) " they are world class at designing weapons and their operational ability." - how many real targets have they hit i the last decade? I'm sure they are smart. But not even the Chinese know how their gear will work in the field. 3) "China has drops live munitions on regular occasion. They do it during training and during weapons development. Just because the US and Russia are dropping bombs in Syria doesn't mean they are getting good practice out of it. " Uhh, yes - it does. And when I'm referring to 'dropping munitions' - I'm referring to the massive machine of operations support and tech that underlie 'the dropping of those bombs'. Do they have the forward air controllers? Are they good? If not - Air Force is severely hampered. Do they have the AWACS capabilities - or will their entire AF be rendered useless in the blink of an eye by e-warfare. The list goes on and on.