Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

whiteknight89

@charliep8: There is a completely legitimate reason to maintain a strong military because of China and that's oil. The fact is China (and India for that matter) has a rapidly expanding middle class that wants the same thing everyone else does, car's, lattes, Mcdonalds, dildo's (and other assorted plastic products). All of this requires oil but pretty soon, there isn't going to be enough and when we reach that point, we're all going to fight over whats left. Not because anyone is evil or racist or because of anyones politic's or religion (although that's how it will be sold to the various warring groups) because history teaches us is that a scarcity of resources leads to conflict. When China runs out of resources and wants more, they will start taking it, same as every other culture that's ever existed.

...and wow, speaking of Communist BS no tasering or wrongful death in China? Are you actually serious? Do you pay any attention what happens to people who speak out against the government over there? Wait sorry, your said your actually in China so your internet is filtered and you probably don't, glad I don't have that problem in my country. I suppose the bloggers that just disappear because of Microsoft or Yahoo kowtowing to the Chinese government had it coming? The Triad's are just men's fitness clubs and all those baby girls are just misplaced?

Those of you that start with the premise that humanity will ever "outgrow" war are just as likely to lead us to destruction as BushCo.

Blue Oyster Cultist

As for your question, on most modern fighter aircraft, the weapons are safed when the wheels are down so it may be an feature that during a catastrophe, the wheels deploy.

The undercarriage may also aid stability and slow the plane down, but the main air brake didn't deploy, so that idea might be out.

The other idea is that the undercarriage may be like truck brakes, they work in reverse. When a truck starts it needs to build up compressed air to release the brakes, the brakes are on by default and need to be held open by compressed air. Maybe the F15's wheels are held up by hydraulics, and so during a catastrophe, they aren't held in place and they deploy so the plane can be landed after hydraulics fail.

Fighter aircraft are all about redundancy, so maybe it's all three!

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer

Freezerbee

No shit. When? Good luck! My bro was in the air force.

johnnyabnormal

CrashingOut

Jasmeet

Granted, some people find other things offensive. On a anthropological level you have to try and see them as simply "different". Like getting your ass handed to you while trying to get on a bus in China town SF/NYC by a bunch of grandmothers with active elbows!

Either way, in the end it's not isolationism, imperialism, a massive military or economic domination that will decide who survives and prospers on this planet. It's those who are smart enough to evolve past the trappings of violence and greed that have the best chance. Otherwise, we're all fucked!

johnnyabnormal

If you don't think China was gang raped then you're clearly delusional. All of the foreigners weren't exactly welcome guests were they? We're bitching over the illegal immigrants here in this country, imagine if they were also here to push their political agendas and take our resources with the full backing of their military. What would you call that exactly? You would send out the welcome wagon?

Taiwan's Nationalists have ALWAYS claimed China. That is a fact. If you don't believe me, go ask a Chinese Nationalist in Taiwan. If they claim China, doesn't that imply that they are part of China? Hello? Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?

I'm no PRC lover either. They suck. Mao destroyed many generations of Chinese people. However, the policies they promote at the U.N., I believe, will be true even if they weren't communist due to their historical norm, especially in light of what happened to them in the 19th century.

Most of the ideas I have are sort of common sense if you know a little about history and you pay attention to people's/a country's actions and not words. That's the surest way to know that you're not listening to propaganda. Keep your eyes sharp, you mind clear, and your ears half open.

Noobs-R-Us

China today is communist in name only. In reality China is arguably more capitalist than the USA. China lacks many of the socialist institutions like welfare, social security, medicare, prescription drugs, agricultural security and DOE that we have in the USA. Safety (OSHA), housing, environmental and regulatory bodies that hamper American business are not nearly as powerful in China, hence the problem with toothpaste and lead paint.

China is a country that Libertarians would love. It is a country where the government largely leaves people alone, just as long as people don't cause trouble politically and don't commit crimes.

The other day I was in an airport in China and this guy was bringing some home made vinegar in a 2 liter Fanta bottle through the airport. The airport regulators looked at it, took a whiff, poured some on to a knife and let him take it with him. Police must follow logic, not the stupidity of inane regulations that our TSA clings to.

If two Chinese are involved in a fight and as long as there is no serious injury the police do their best to resolve the situation rather than putting things through the courts. Really, they must do this because with a population of 1.4 Billion people if people were as litigious as they are in the USA the courts would be full forever.

The Chinese government constantly refers to China as a peaceful country. This is being pounded into people's minds on television and newspapers on a daily basis. It is even part of the theme for the 2008 Olympics. So I really can't see China ever going to war unless provoked on its own territory. Certainly never a war like we are sponsoring in Iraq. BTW Vietnam was the initial aggressor against the Chinese ally Cambodia in the war with China in 1979 and this war was arguably disastrous for the Chinese so the Chinese have no great motivation to make a sequel.

The sole military aspirations China might have is recapture of Taiwan, but for the reasons I expressed before this is highly unlikely to happen unless Taiwan declares independence. But China must keep its military happy and they can't continue to be bullied around by the USA so China must modernize. For ANYBODY in the west to use China as an excuse to justify military spending in the USA is a complete and total farce. China is modernizing because of actions of the USA so the USA must modernize? Welcome to the new arms race, only this time its the USA that is going to lose because we can't compete with inexpensive Chinese labor.

The sad thing about Noobs is that maybe 30% made sense, but it was so saddled with communist BS that the other 70% just stank to high hell.

The University student in Florida who was Tasered for asking questions in a obnoxious manner with Kerry (fink) standing there. That would NEVER happen in China.

The lady who was killed in the airport in AZ when she missed her flight, through a tantrum and was thrown in jail. That would NEVER happen in China.

I was at the beach in NJ last summer and witnessed a black vet get beaten up by 5 white cops because he refused to kneel down on the ground when he was ordered to. He was drunk, he was in handcuffs and he was not going to hurt anyone. But the police in the USA have their 'rules' to follow and their egos to meet, so they pounded him down until he was on the ground. This could NEVER EVER happen in China.

China is an incredibly safe place where there is very little violent crime. This is not because the police are all around spying on people: it is because of Chinese culture. Chinese do not like to make trouble and generally Chinese lead very moral lives according to Chinese standards which abhors violence and thievery (although charging 5x something is worth is perfectly acceptable).

I too am embarrassed by the present administration in the USA. That black vet would not have been assaulted in 1997. The present administration has used 9/11 as an excuse to turn the USA into a country where citizens are okay with police abuse and civil rights violations in order to protect our 'homeland'. To me that is the ultimate crime. Homeland Security is not protecting our homeland, it is destroying our freedoms.

charliep8

johnnyabnormal

Noobs-R-Us: YOU are the one who should study history.
1. China has more like 58 years of history from a PRC standpoint and 4002 years of history from a Dynasty standpoint. 5000 is a number used in the song DongFangZhiZhu by Luo DaYou, probably not a good place to learn about history.
2. It is hilarious to read your posts and see how clearly you have been brainwashed by the PRC educational system. For you to say Americans are brainwashed is laughable.
3. You refer to Americans as 'they' and to Chinese as 'they'. You host a rather racist image as your pic on Gizmodo which reflects an absolute complete lack of understanding of the sensitivities of the society you live in today. You are not American, and yet you refer to Chinese as 'they'? So WTF are YOU?
4. China was not gang raped by anybody. China's misfortune during the 1800s was a direct result of its own isolationist policies. The west did not set out to force Opium on the Chinese. Western countries wanted free trade with China because they wanted to buy silk and tea from China. There was a substantial market for western products in China. The Qing regime refused to allow import of foreign products and would only accept silver for Chinese exports. Qing security forces would confiscate any foreign products for sale in Chinese stores. There was no way that western countries could sustain a constant flow of silver to China and yet there was a strong demand for Chinese goods in the west. The end result was ingenuity by Chinese and westerners both to find something that could be sold in China and yet could not be traced back to the west: Opium. And contrary to today's negative image of Opium, in the early 1800s it was not illegal in any western countries.
5. The US NEVER fought against the Chinese during ANY of the Opium wars and actually supplied arms to the Qing government. Where did you learn your history?
6. The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising supported by the Qing Dynasty which killed thousands of innocent missionaries and Chinese Christians in Shandong and threatened the safety and sovereignty of foreign embassies in Beijing. The US did supply troops to this mission to protect the lives of foreign diplomats in Beijing. ALL reparations that the USA received from the Qing Dynasty went to improving the infrastructure in China and Tsinghua University was built using some of those funds. US forces did NOT participate in the sacking of YueMingYuan: that was an effort headed by the German army who arrived days after Beijing had already been made safe and were looking for a fight. They burned YueMingYuan and many of the treasures there so that the Chinese "would never forget the Germans" and yet it seems that you already have.
7. You conveniently elect to avoid the question of Tibet, a territory for which China can really lay little claim. The logic that China uses to claim Tibet could equally justify Mongolia occupying the entirety of China because historically Mongolians controlled China for hundreds of years. In fact, the city of Beijing was founded by Mongolians, not by Chinese.
8. Taiwan is a NOT part of China nor is it an independent country. The requirements for country to exist under the UN Charter are a. land, b. population, c. army, d. government and e. hold itself out as a country. Taiwan meets ALL of these requirements except the last. The only problem is that Taiwan STILL lays claim to all the territory of mainland China, so there are two competing governments laying claim to the same territory (actually, Taiwan also claims Mongolia as part of the Republic of China). China has diplomatically checkmated Taiwan by requiring all countries to only recognize one legitimate government of China, so Taiwan is a country without representation in the UN and without status as a country. THAT DOES NOT MAKE TAIWAN PART OF CHINA. China has ZERO government or military influence over Taiwan. Today probably the ONLY reason Taiwan is NOT an independent country is because the US has put incredible pressure on Taiwan's President Chen not to declare independence. Whether Taiwan will one day gain independence or eventually become part of China remains to be seen, but it is arrogant attitudes from little Chinese punks like you who have never been to Taiwan who make either one of those outcomes more dangerous.
9. It is laughable for you to say you hate hypochracy. You are the one who in your posts has claimed to be American and yet refuse to admit that you were born and initially educated in China. THAT is hypocritical.
10. The BIGGEST reason that China adopts the doctrine that countries should govern themselves is because China always wants to reserve the right to take Taiwan back by force, and so China must pretend that Taiwan is part of China so they can be justified in using military action on Taiwan. Chinese leaders continue the propaganda about right of self government and sovereignty over Taiwan to keep the military leaders within the Chinese government happy. In truth, China would never be able to take Taiwan back by force. To do so would mean an immediate cut off of all oil to China by the USA and an embargo of all Chinese goods by the USA and by much of Europe. It would critically damage the PRC economy and the only thing that is keeping the PRC government in power today is the economic miracle they have created in China. Chinese leaders have no motivation to upset the balance that is so successful today.

The reason I KNOW Noobs is Chinese is because so much of the BS that others reading this thread perceive as knowledge is actually propaganda spouted by the Chinese newspapers commonly found in the USA which Noobs obviously continues to read.

Noobs, please do not respond unless you are willing to admit where you were born. And go out and read some objective history instead of the Chinese communist version of history that bans Wikipediia in China because it expresses views of history that the Chinese government does not agree with.

Gizmodo is a place to discuss technology, not politics. The only reason I have entered your fray is to call your BS. Your 'facts' are wrong and are based on Chinese propaganda.

charliep8

Noobs-R-Us: YOU are the one who should study history. 1. China has more like 58 years of history from a PRC standpoint and 4002 years of history from a Dynasty standpoint. 5000 is a number used in the song DongFangZhiZhu by Luo DaYou, probably not a good place to learn about history.
2. It is hilarious to read your posts and see how clearly you have been brainwashed by the PRC educational system. For you to say Americans are brainwashed is laughable.
3. You refer to Americans as 'they' and to Chinese as 'they'. You host a rather racist image as your pic on Gizmodo which reflects an absolute complete lack of understanding of the sensitivities of the society you live in today. You are not American, and yet you refer to Chinese as 'they'? So WTF are YOU?
4. China was not gang raped by anybody. China's misfortune during the 1800s was a direct result of its own isolationist policies. The west did not set out to force Opium on the Chinese. Western countries wanted free trade with China because they wanted to buy silk and tea from China. There was a substantial market for western products in China. The Qing regime refused to allow import of foreign products and would only accept silver for Chinese exports. Qing security forces would confiscate any foreign products for sale in Chinese stores. There was no way that western countries could sustain a constant flow of silver to China and yet there was a strong demand for Chinese goods in the west. The end result was ingenuity by Chinese and westerners both to find something that could be sold in China and yet could not be traced back to the west: Opium. And contrary to today's negative image of Opium, in the early 1800s it was not illegal in any western countries.
5. The US NEVER fought against the Chinese during ANY of the Opium wars and actually supplied arms to the Qing government. Where did you learn your history?
6. The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising supported by the Qing Dynasty which killed thousands of innocent missionaries and Chinese Christians in Shandong and threatened the safety and sovereignty of foreign embassies in Beijing. The US did supply troops to this mission to protect the lives of foreign diplomats in Beijing. ALL reparations that the USA received from the Qing Dynasty went to improving the infrastructure in China and Tsinghua University was built using some of those funds. US forces did NOT participate in the sacking of YueMingYuan: that was an effort headed by the German army who arrived days after Beijing had already been made safe and were looking for a fight. They burned YueMingYuan and many of the treasures there so that the Chinese "would never forget the Germans" and yet it seems that you already have.
7. You conveniently elect to avoid the question of Tibet, a territory for which China can really lay little claim. The logic that China uses to claim Tibet could equally justify Mongolia occupying the entirety of China because historically Mongolians controlled China for hundreds of years. In fact, the city of Beijing was founded by Mongolians, not by Chinese.
8. Taiwan is a NOT part of China nor is it an independent country. The requirements for country to exist under the UN Charter are a. land, b. population, c. army, d. government and e. hold itself out as a country. Taiwan meets ALL of these requirements except the last. The only problem is that Taiwan STILL lays claim to all the territory of mainland China, so there are two competing governments laying claim to the same territory (actually, Taiwan also claims Mongolia as part of the Republic of China). China has diplomatically checkmated Taiwan by requiring all countries to only recognize one legitimate government of China, so Taiwan is a country without representation in the UN and without status as a country. THAT DOES NOT MAKE TAIWAN PART OF CHINA. China has ZERO government or military influence over Taiwan. Today probably the ONLY reason Taiwan is NOT an independent country is because the US has put incredible pressure on Taiwan's President Chen not to declare independence. Whether Taiwan will one day gain independence or eventually become part of China remains to be seen, but it is arrogant attitudes from little Chinese punks like you who have never been to Taiwan who make either one of those outcomes more dangerous.
9. It is laughable for you to say you hate hypochracy. You are the one who in your posts has claimed to be American and yet refuse to admit that you were born and initially educated in China. THAT is hypocritical.
10. The BIGGEST reason that China adopts the doctrine that countries should govern themselves is because China always wants to reserve the right to take Taiwan back by force, and so China must pretend that Taiwan is part of China so they can be justified in using military action on Taiwan. Chinese leaders continue the propaganda about right of self government and sovereignty over Taiwan to keep the military leaders within the Chinese government happy. In truth, China would never be able to take Taiwan back by force. To do so would mean an immediate cut off of all oil to China by the USA and an embargo of all Chinese goods by the USA and by much of Europe. It would critically damage the PRC economy and the only thing that is keeping the PRC government in power today is the economic miracle they have created in China. Chinese leaders have no motivation to upset the balance that is so successful today.
9.

The reason I KNOW Noobs is Chinese is because so much of the BS that others reading this thread perceive as knowledge is actually propaganda spouted by the Chinese newspapers commonly found in the USA which Noobs obviously continues to read.

Noobs, please do not respond unless you are willing to admit where you were born. And go out and read some objective history instead of the Chinese communist version of history that bans Wikipediia in China because it expresses views of history that the Chinese government does not agree with.

charliep8

The American Civil War was a conflict between two competing ideologies and economic systems that presented a direct threat to each other. Far from a disaster, slavery was abolished and several freedoms we hold dear were enshrined in law. It settled a pivotal issue in American politics.

Read up on Puerto Rico, it is a case study on peaceful modern secession efforts.

Sihanouk-s-Poodle

Noobs-R-Us

As far as the Soviet Union collapsing, I stand by what I said, that their economic system was unsustainable and was the ultimate cause of their collapse. If you want to be simplistic and blame it on weapons then fine, but they would have dissolved even if they only produced butter.

Noobs-R-Us

johnnyabnormal

The U.S., for all its injustices, is a better friend than most nations. Lands occupied by the U.S. in WWII are now for the most part democracies. Aside from a few scattered island territories, the U.S. annexed no land. Compare that to the USSR, or Britain or France in WWI.

Our "imperialist" wars of the Cold War resulted in greater freedoms. South Korea is wealthy and free -- not the North. We bailed on South Vietnam, and it fell to the communists, who persecuted millions, caused famine and ejected a million refugees. We did nothing for Hungary, which is lamentable.

And yes, if Hawaii (or Puerto Rico) held a plebiscite and voted overwhelmingly for independence, it would happen. The U.S. would not resort to aiming a thousand missiles at the island.

Sihanouk-s-Poodle

ab3

I said (in sarcasm): "I suppose we aren't involved in any petty tribal wars or genocide...nope! Not the USA"

Did you think I was serious? I hardly think I pontificate "high moral ground" and drink Starbucks!

On Defense/Control: I firmly believe the USA would benefit from not fucking with the rest of the world so much and so often. It's really quite simple. Oh, and I'd rather see all that excessive military taxpayer money go to things like technology, infrastructure, education, health care, etc. I'd even wager a bet we'd be energy dependent if all of that money was spent on achieving such a goal. Then we wouldn't be doing all these power grabs all the time. The money we spend on military is out of control and counter productive. I would hope humanity evolves past apes enough to settle a argument with a handshake rather than a punch to the face.

johnnyabnormal

Hard to see someone with rational thoughts nowadays on the net, though not completely agreeing with some of your arguments, you have my respect. You also make some interesting points (or rather, pointing out the facts), I wish more people see it that way.

Too many hypocrit out there thinking our government is the rightous defender of freedom, but all government and politicians are alike, they need money and power and they'll do whatever to get it. When people are voicing things like free Tibet etc., they are ignoring the things happening within our country. America would really be better off if we paid more attention to our education system for example.

Basically, "Mind your own business" is what everyone on earth want us to do, and I think we should listen to them.

diehippiedie

MobileEMP

Noobs-R-Us

Godwin's Law notwithstanding, you might want to think long and hard about comparing anyone in any US government to the Nazis, or about claiming moral parity with such. At minimum it diminishes any further argument you make by making you look like a fool since it's demonstrably false. If it weren't false you couldn't publically make the claim without being dragged off and shot, or worse. At maximum it's a disgusting slander to the millions of Americans who gave their lives to stop such men.

junyo

Yeah, it's far less efficient. I can "defend" my country in a war of attrition costing millions of lives on both sides, or I can build enough military might, occasionally might a public use of force to demonstrate it, to deter any such attack in the first place.
I suppose we aren't involved in any petty tribal wars or genocide...nope! Not the USA

So because the US has made mistakes is a reason to do nothing? Yeah, that's a brilliant philosophy. Because the US killed Indians, we have no moral standing to ever oppose genocide anywhere, ever. Screw the Croats and screw the Tutsis. I'm sure the people that are being murdered, raped and burned out of their villages in the Sudan at this moment are so very happy about your high moral ground, formed over a vanilla latte.

junyo

Noobs-R-Us

I support 100% of our efforts to do what we need to fix the numerous problems here in America. But I will be damned if I'm going to lead around like some snot nose school boy by some American Goebbels pretending to do good around the world. Our shit stink as much as anyone else's in the world. It's crazy to think otherwise.

Noobs-R-Us

You know, I bet sometimes the Department of Defense really regrets this whole ARPANET thing....

middy

Noobs-R-Us

If Hawaii wanted to go independent and secede the U.S. do you think the U.S. would let that happen? If you do then you're naive. Well, it's the same with China.

As far as supporting the neighboring countries are concerned. We did the same during the Cuba Missile crisis. We didn't want our enemies setting up bases so close to home. Well, the Chinese also didn't want their enemies setting up bases so close to home either. So what's the difference?

Once again, you think like a typically westerner. Everything that you do is saint like and everything that others do is despicable, right?

Noobs-R-Us

Taiwan is a free and independent democracy, yet The People's Republic of China threatens all manner of modern violence when it practices its right to self-governance.

China bankrolled the Khmer Rouge, genocidal thugs that killed millions of their own people.

China invaded Vietnam in 1979 when the Vietnamese ousted the Khmer Rouge.

China supports Myanmar, Sudan, North Korea and many other murderous regimes not because of respect for self-governance, but to expand their economic and power base.

Will China intentionally attacked the U.S.? Unlikely, but the U.S. must be prepared to defend democracy (Taiwan, South Korea, India) from the forces of tyranny.

Sihanouk-s-Poodle

If an aircraft breaks up in flight due to fatigue, you can bet that somewhere someone dropped the ball. It could be that there's a design flaw. It could be a maintenance issue (stress cracks, corrosion, etc.). It could be that the aircraft has just been flown longer than its design life (lax oversight). Or it could be a combination of all three. Proper manufacturing, maintenance and record-keeping should keep an airplane from breaking up in flight.

Now, to address the military-industrial complex argument. Sure, the government has at times been overcharged for things, sold things that are substandard, etc., but in my personal experience, defense contractors in general really do try to deliver a quality product. The military's requirements are not easy ones to meet, nor should they be.

MyPetFly

Geez, you'd think the air force would have known about the weakspot...

[www.youtube.com]

Fierock

I've never been a advocate of "kumbaya hippy dippyness", but I also do advocate not having to live in the the real world version of "Team America: World Police". Being able to defend is different than trying to control.

"If it weren't for the ridiculous military spending that the US did during the Cold War most of Europe and Asia would've been under Soviet domination, or involved in the type of endless petty tribal wars and genocides that had been waged on the continent for centuries."

I suppose we aren't involved in any petty tribal wars or genocide...nope! Not the USA!

@everyone: Probably one of the most important speeches in American history within the last 100 years:

[www.youtube.com]

johnnyabnormal

The Israeli F-15 spawned work on neural-network based flight controllers that adapted to changing flight dynamics.

Meaning: remove a wing, and the plane (after a brief bit of hiccups) resumes its normal flight pattern by re-adapting to the changed aerodynamics of the plane.

Link1: [www.nasa.gov]
Link 2: [www.nasa.gov]

Sorry, I can't find anything more flashy :)

Incredibly cool stuff.

J. Shirley

In any case, Mao is dead. China is now returning to its historical roots. They're only interested in a trade war.

Noobs-R-Us

robo

A simple history of the world shows that despite all the kumbaya hippy dippyness you only have what you can stop someone else from you. If it weren't for the ridiculous military spending that the US did during the Cold War most of Europe and Asia would've been under Soviet domination, or involved in the type of endless petty tribal wars and genocides that had been waged on the continent for centuries. The US has subsidized the economies of most of the free world for the last half century by allowing them to not have to worry above their own defense, or outside aggression without spending that much of their own coin. Hell, outside of the UK and Australia, most of NATO has little to no legitimate force projection capability. And yet it's fashionable to begrudge the people that do the work the proper tools.

"Those who abjure violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf."

junyo

There you go... 2 years of Air Force pilot training to disprove a conspiracy theory. I deserve a raise. Oh wait...

grafxguy

@jstonemo: Maybe, but also realize the billions (close to 86 for fiscal 2008) of dollars we spend on veteran's benefits (not that they don't deserve it), and the hundreds of billions (somewhere between 360 and 370) of interest that's added to the national debt from all this military spending. Factor that in, and the war spending vs. social programs spending evens itself out. And social security, whose trust fund is raised and spent separately from income tax doesn't apply here.

alexlr

China honors countrys rights? Ever heard of Tibet?

bdesign

Actually, I don't disagree, I just couldn't resist.

MiniSail

The Soviet Union collapsed NOT because of our spending. Contrary to the B.S. Republican propaganda that Regan (the thief who stole U.S. taxpayers' money to fund contra by selling weapons to IRAN, even though congress enacted a law SPECIFICALLY asking him NOT to do so) and his dumb supporters claim, the Soviet Union collapse because it was an un-sustainable system of government. The communist economic system doesn't work.

China knows this also. That is why they are making reforms in their economic system because if you leave your citizens poor for sustained amount of time, revolts will arise. It's been like this since the beginning of time. Just go back and study history. But make no mistakes about it, China is NOT building their armed forces to go after the west. Anyone who says so is full of crap. Most Westerners don't understand China. The first mistake they make is to use a western blueprint for making the argument that they have imperialist aspirations. The fact of the matter is, they don't. It's the "white man" who has always wanted to subjugate others. Its history is rife with instances of this. The fore fathers of this nation was fully aware of it when the wrote the constitution. Why do you think they put in the second amendment for example? China has always been a society who honors other country's right to govern themselves. Even today, the U.S. media constantly harasses China whenever China refuses to go along with the U.S. at the U.N. Security council whenever the U.S. wants impose their blue print for government on other countries. That clearly shows that they have no intention interfering with other nations. Their only interest in other countries is one of commerce. What China is doing in building their military is to do exactly the opposite of what the western media and gov'ts are saying. They Chinese want to prevent others from interfering with their right to self govern. Again you must study history. It was only about 150 years ago that China was gang raped by the west. Every western nation including the U.S. took turns. Ever heard of the Opium War? Boxer Rebellion? Why do you think Hong Kong and Macao was ruled by the British and Portuguese for the past 100 years? China, at the time was foolish enough to think that the Westerners would have the decency NOT to pray on them. Well, they're determined that this WILL NOT happen to them again.

Noobs-R-Us

jstonemo

Obviously that maneuver was the "last straw" for the weakened section... understanding the actual stresses would be important for analysis... Boeing isn't getting that from a simulation with landing gear in the wrong state.

I'm going to guess that this "simulation" was strictly for the visual (and it's working, eh?). Who has more to gain by making sure that we HAVE to replace our current jets? Think about it.

huygir

The moon is the high ground and I don't think China would hesitate to use it to maximum advantage.

strider_mt2k

LoganSix

We're having similar issues with the A-10 Thunderbolt/Warthog. Unfortunately, Fairchild-Republic is kaput and nobody's making parts, so a fair number of retired A-10s are being mothballed and kept as sources of parts, potential replacements, and the like.

Canthros

tamoko

tamoko

Jesus Diaz

xelaqlito

The fleet is aging. It is older than the F-16 and the F-22 is replacing the F-15 in the active duty fleet.

As far as the whining about the military industrial complex, one F-15 accident (as dramatic as this is) doesn't prove that there is a problem in the entire system. Lighten up. These are something like 35 year old airframes that routinely take 5-8+ gs. Stuff breaks. How many sorties go off without a hitch that we don't hear about?

As far as the change from a Cold War mentality to the modern situation, we did that. In the 90s things in the military changed dramatically. We are currently designing the next ...

Ah, forget it. No one is going to listen to a comment on a tech blog.

AhnyerKeester

What has happened in the last 20 years though, is the US has not stopped themselves from gearing up for a WWIII. Its a problem of the Administration still thinking like the ones of Regan Carter Ford Nixon etc.

The EU nations where able to change this line of thought, they where bleeding themselves dry keeping their nations in competition for their respective sides. And Russia DID bleed themselves dry, so they couldnt keep their purchases up. The US though could and thats where we are now.

The only way your going to change the way of thought going on, is for the old guard who is STILL in charge since the Regan era, to up and die on us, and their subordinates to not keep up the status quo. People dont realize this but Bush Jrs cabinate was made up of almost half his fathers, which in turn was most of his former bosses. Clinton as well was just as bad, but he figured out how to balance it out and made a few very controversial cuts in military spending such as on the Osprey.

Until that time though, the military industry is just going to make more and more money. And the threat remains, if we DO cut that funding, those are thousands of jobs we will also be cutting meaning more unemployment, and a even further push into a recession. Its not a easy balancing act to pull off.

Falconfire

puttputt

come on people, its not that hard

discounteggroll

tamoko

Palestina

mariogalaxyman

[en.wikipedia.org]

War is good business, people. Though I doubt that this subject will generate 800+ comments... Nope. TV pranks are far more important than people getting rich off of killing and maiming other people.

johnnyabnormal