OK, lets clear up a few things.Now there is a realization that high tech weapons do not defeat low tech adversaries. They hurt them but it begins to hurt the user to keep using them. Hence the reinvention of COIN aircraft.
China is now trying to "challenge" the US in a high tech "per fights peer" battle and they are doing it more affordably (for themselves) than the US. Nowadays all the signals I get from the US is fear and respect of China and IMO China is doing to the US what the US did to the USSR - that is outcompete them on technology which the US could afford and the USSR could not. Eerily when this happened to the USSR they were wasting themselves fighting asymmetric war in Afghanistan - with the Taliban being infused with just enough technology to wear out the USSR, China is now ready to supply just enough high tech weapons to low tech adversaries of the US to keep the US sledging against low tech adversaries while they struggle to keep the the tech edge against China.
high tech weapons can defeat a low tech adversary.
The challenge is that the high tech user is restricting himself by fighting a PC war while the low tech user does not. just one example....ISIS always seems to have their women and children with therm. Unlike the high tech warrior who is in a warrior only environment, the low tech user must have his women with him to serve him and help take care of logistical concerns. The high tech warrior uses a corporate support logistical system. Thus the high high tech warrior is constrained and if he does indeed kill the low tech women and children it is considered self defeating while the low tech warrior doesn't concern himself with self defeating consequences......he just goes ahead and kills....what's to lose?
I guarantee you, if we turn General Matthis loose with no consequences, he will utterly destroy ISIS.....in a thrice...he will show you what high tech weapons (non nuclear) can really do in a very short amount of time. Of course this will never happen, he will be suitably constrained.
and the tech edge of the US will be maintained as long as their economy can support it. I daresay it is part and parcel of our culture. That is no guarantee however and ultimately all civilizations fail.
this is off topic to this thread but I felt it must be addressed because of the inference of the superiority of low tech weapon advantage over high tech weapons is constrained to strategy, only not to a heads up, full bore, damn the consequences win at any cost victory.