Up in the Air

Now that the beastly Russians have taken to abusing the Freedom of the Seas and shining bright lights in people's eyes, it should be obvious to all true patriots that the master race can never be too well armed. Happily, there are three separate projects afoot to produce a rah-rah new fighter, quite possibly with a tinted canopy; and the spirit of competition which makes capitalism so efficient has already ensured that at least one of them is in trouble because two of the companies collaborating on its production hate each other. In addition, and rather brilliantly, developers are struggling to minimise dependence on rare earth metals because the main supplier happens to be the Heathen Chinee. Not only have the cunning fiends imposed export controls in response to the trade war launched by Britain's greatest ally, but the issue might prove a little embarrassing in a couple of decades' time should a fighter at last be produced and then required to assert the sovereignty of plucky little Formosa.