I've always loved that story!

Totally true, what's the issue? Should we give them our stuff and have it be a poor fit for their forces? That wouldn't do our strategic goals any good at all!

They fly every now and then... a bit. They also have some P-3s that make it into the air once a blue moon.

You're absolutely right. They have worked the kinks out of the AR-15 and it is a fantastic weapon now. My argument was based at the time the AK and AR were both being designed - eventually they both ended up good, but the design objectives were very different.

I didn't mean to even suggest that the Russians aren't making good systems - they're making fantastic systems. However, they have a different design philosophy than we do... I saw a great interview with Mikhail Kalashnikov about why he loved the AK-47. He talked about how you could fill the thing with sand or pull…

Correction: It was the Afghan Air Force I was thinking of. Here's a link to the NPR story:

I see other commenters complaining that the Iraqis are using Russian hardware - I feel a need to defend them.

Is that Pontiac's hood stock?

... and not even trying to look good - those are as fake as fake gets. ;)

LCS is still no not understood even within the Navy. The idea was to get a supremely flexible replacement for the frigates that would be cheap, modular, and had greater fighting power. They missed the boat a bit... However, one huge difference between this awesome patrol boat and LCS, is the ability to host air…

blue water Navy guy here - SirUno is right, the brown water boys tend to be the elite these days. Those guys are truly hardcore, or at least much harder than the carrier navy. Give em hell brown water boys!

Tyler, thanks for the fantastic journalism. Your stuff at FA is fantastically deep and nuanced, and I love your coverage of the Navy.

It blew my mind to see that people were flying the 737 to Hawaii.

Then I flew there from Whidbey Island WA in a DC-9. Prior to that I honestly didn't think it was legal to take a twin over that much water. :)

Meh.

Tyler - the WAPO reports that they were able to depart Bandar Abbas and continue to Dubai. Situation resolved peacefully and quickly. Bravo!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national…

So... now I'll openly admit to talking out my ass, but I think the reason that the SVX motor isn't a popular item for tuners is because there simply aren't that many of them in the world. The WRX made great power out of the box, and could be tuned to completely outrageous amounts of power due to that beautiful turbo.…

I've been through a special military school for service members at high risk of capture - especially in the case of "peacetime governmental detention." It was exactly for cases like this where you end up in the hands of a country we're not at war with, but may have a tense relationship. If they're US government…

On the up-side of the SVX, it looks cool. Also, I'd argue (probably wrongly) that the SVX engine is ultimately capable of being tuned (and turbo'd) to more total power than a WRX. You're right that it's a money losing proposition, but it's a very cool looking car. :)

We're lucky it isn't 1988 and somebody didn't go off half-cocked and shoot it down.

Yeah... the USS Vincennes incident was not our finest hour.