I’d honestly flip them. Sovereign debt, especially with an economic/political/military power on the level of the USA, is essentially uncollectible. We aren’t Greece, and if China were to try and take us to task for our debt, it would be an act of war.

You’re partly correct!

That's not as far off as it sounds...

I was talking about an internal data bus. At the end of the day "sensor/data fusion" really just means that there's a central computer that processes all of the various incoming data from the various subsystems and curates what the pilot actually sees from all of the raw feeds.

Go with a "plug and play" approach to the specific avionic subsystems, aiming for a shared information bus/communications protocol between different sensors. I.e, all IRSTs communicate using the same protocol, whether the uber-IRST on thethe fleet-defemse Super Tomcat or the less capable one on the USAF/USN "jsf". The…

And yet the mechanical compromises from trying to adapt one airframe to multiple roles ends up creating a needlessly bloated aircraft/product with an equally bloated budget, and you end up producing far fewer of them than you planned to.

That makes me sad to think about, but it's fitting.

As someone who is way more hipsterish in person than my love of military hardware would otherwise indicate, I'm all for innovative repurposing of cool old hardware like this.

Just $180k?

Honestly, my dream would be for him to do a 500/panda/UP!/fit/etc fighter. That’s where the real market share is, and you don’t have the competition of the Golf market or the brand-snobbery of the 3-series market to compete with...

I want to see Gordon Murray turn his iStream design/build process to something more relevant, or appealing. Maybe a Golf or 3-series killer.

I used to drive a 2000 9-5 Aero sedan, which was still a product of the 50% Scania ownership days, and even that car had so much more personality and Saab charm than my 9-3 does.

Very practical, so comfort-oriented...

There comes a moment in time when you realize that all of your favorite writers look like, er, well, there’s a reason why took to writing, of all things as an outlet.

So what you’re telling me is that I’m NOT crazy for wanting to replace my 9-3 Aero 6mt wagon with a 500 Abarth?

You shut your whore mouth! 80’s star trek interiors will always be the best interiors!

I honestly hope you realize that Asian- and Indian-Americans (who mostly consider themselves to be “Americans”, sorry to burst your identity politics bubble) are the only minority groups in this country who still face dem facto admissions quotas at elite colleges and grad schools.

And ironically, the F-16 became one of the best small strike fighters ever built, the spiritual successor to the A-4. There was no need for the Viper to be the be-all and end-all of air superiority, especially since they had the F-15A at that time which could still fly circles around the smaller Viper.

The OV-10 always reminded me of the something you'd have expected one of the South African companies to cook up. Brutishly simple, deadly, and rugged as hell.

Good lord, what a quote...