>

It's been going on ever since the cold war to be honest.. 
Take a 5 second look at US/NATO missile design and realize they have been preparing for combat that just wont ever exist short of a US/EU war. We have long been in a cycle of build a better weapon.. then build its direct counter.. which means we need to build a better weapon.
"Stop showing how much better your leftover equipment is than our operational stuff!" >

This must be some serious vindication for the cold war era weapons designers.