That's a good observation. While Russian warships continue to carry the RBU series of rocket-propelled depth charges, most Western navies are solely reliant on anti-submarine torpedoes for ASW. It's not really possible to "scare" someone with a, ASW torpedo as it'll end up killing the target outright.

For the effect…

I don't think they would outright torpedo any intruder out of the water, especially with no certain way to confirm the intruder's identity and risk the political consequences.

Unlike the era of diesel electric submarines, it is also not possible to simply corner the sub and force it to surface, since a nuclear or…

While Mach 3 is extremely fast for an airplane, it is nowhere near the velocity required to enter orbit.

Now, if you had a fictional Blackbird with a rocket booster strapped onto its back you could probably think up a way to accelerate the plane to Mach 3+, enter a zoom climb, light the rocket and go up into space in a…

Whoa. 48 mins. Is that a whole episode? *bookmarks*

A gentleman would just man up and pay up as the Court orders, or raise an appeal. After all, he can afford an Aston Martin in a country where car prices are anywhere from 4 to 10 times more than anywhere else.

Having lived and worked in Singapore I can say that is pretty much correct. You'd be surprised how unpleasant it is to actually mingle with the locals not as a tourist, but a colleague, neighbor, or god forbid, fellow citizen.

Singapore has a pristine international reputation on the 'net though - because its…

Coolest thing I've ever read today.

Wonder what it would say if it read a drop of my blood, and watch the resulting cocktail of illnesses pop up!

Ever thought that, maybe a few million years later some alien explorers would find fossils of cars deep under the ice and formulate some theory that Earth was populated by huge metallic dinosaurs with rotating legs that drank gasoline?

Why not indeed! I adore the minimalistic retro-futuristic looking gauges and knobs that wouldn't look out of place in a Jules Verne graphic novel.. if one existed.

Everyone buying hugeass SUVs to merely carry 1-2 persons about contributes to traffic congestion in the city. Buy a damn compact if the car is going to live out its entire life stuck in a traffic jam.

The first time I read about the gigantic Japanese aircraft-carrying subs I was in awe. They were huge. And carried multiple aircraft inside them. Like a steampunk fantasy.

In this context, the Russian T-34 would be a more "revolutionary" tank design, in the sense that its effective use of sloped armor plating was the precursor to nearly every single modern tank design out there.

It was also regarded as a good balance between mobility, firepower and protection.

I would think that the U-boat was a game-changer back in the day. It almost starved an entire nation into submission. Almost.

Nuclear power also changed the scope and range of naval power projection in the Cold War. CVNs and SSNs with near-unlimited range could go anywhere around the world without refueling.

This kitbashing is starting to look like those low quality game 'mods' that just stuck parts of various units together to create a "improved" version!

J-31 looks like a F-35 fore and F-22 or YF-23 rear, minus the thrust vectoring so they can get it flying sooner than developing TVC on their own.

Or read all the F-35 articles and forum threads on the Internet and said - hey, everyone says the F-35 will be better with two engines... lets make one!

You know how in every single F-35 article there are people who comment "one engine bad"? Looks like the Chinese listened to them!

I read they even copied the word BOEING on the rudder pedals!

Seriously, the fact that everyone is bashing the F-35 means it's going to be one heck of a surprise to the unfortunate souls who would be sent 6 feet underground from meeting one.

Single engine, can't carry much, poor aerodynamics...

But it can fight smarter (as you mentioned) and strike rapidly from the shadows from…

That's some awesome commentary there. I enjoyed reading all of it :)

And I agree with you. Real conflicts aren't games. It's better to keep the trump cards outside enemy fire until they are proven platforms, rather than risking experimental tech to enemy observation.

The consequences for prematurely deploying unproven…

You mean the Nighthawk of course! It's ironic that those un-streamlined, angular stealth designs are seen as beauty, but the streamlined complex curvatures of the new F-35 is regarded as "ugly". Perhaps its because the new designs are proportioned in a manner that is regarded as alien or incomprehensible to the human…