There's a lot of truth to that. The repeal of Public Law 80 (which kicked U.S. companies out of Iraq’s oil fields) is being disassembled as we speak to clear the way for U.S. oil companies to extract Iraqi oil.

Gee, what a surprise.

 

I don't know, some of the newer concept small-arms weapons shown on futureweapons look friggin amazing. I think the Tomcat was too expensive and considering there is no real air force from another nation to fight why bother. It was simply a platform for the Pheonix weapon system. There is a lot of sentimental feelings for the Tomcat but it was really an ancient aircraft. The future of aerial warfare is stealth high performance aircraft like the JSF and f-22 and the inevitable shift to unmanned fighters. Mach 4+, stealth, 20G capable aircraft at a fraction of the cost anyone? In reality, Superhornets, Raptors and JSF's are pretty much all we need as offensive fighter aircraft. Hornets are the utility trucks and the JSF will be the rapier.

The 'wave of the future' is consolidation of technology, such as the Burke class surface ships, they can handle the tasks previously covered by 4 different classes of ships. The specialized tasks are becoming more of an issue for the weapons themselves. 2 or 3 strike aircraft types with dozens of specialized ordinance to choose from. We no longer need 5 different aircraft to carry 7 different types of weapons. What country has anything remotely capable of waging an attack on a US carrier group?

As for sinking carriers, we are the only nation that has practice doing this, over 30 have been destroyed under the SINKEX program. Russia has never sunk one, even in practice.