Can numerous adequate weapons overwhelm superior designs?

What if Chinese equipment is less capable than advertised but works reliably around the clock?

That would still be a serious problem: reliable, adequate systems produced in much greater numbers can overwhelm a more capable rival.

Reliable equipment can create a serious problem even when its individual capability falls short of what is advertised. An illustrative comparison sets an 80-percent solution, produced ten times as often, against a more refined rival. A follow-up places the value of numbers in a longer military history, including Napoleon and British and British Indian armies. Effective mass still depends on organization and concentration.