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Big guns still matter in an age of drones

Imagining there’s a cheaper alternative to massive defence spending on fighter jets and other big-ticket weaponry is just wishful thinking.

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Drones can enhance tactical manoeuvrability but they cannot replace the fighter planes, ships and tanks needed to project force that makes enemies blink.

Drones can enhance tactical manoeuvrability but they cannot replace the fighter planes, ships and tanks needed to project force that makes enemies blink.

PHOTO: DAVID GUTTENFELDER/NYTIMES

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Blame the

Golden Dome

missile shield plan of US President Donald Trump for being too big, too expensive (at US$175 billion) and too “beautiful”. 

Like his description of a spanking new sixth-generation F-47 plane, one that he calls the “most lethal aircraft ever built”, the bombastic language employed draws the wrong sort of focus and perhaps the wrong sort of criticism. 

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