FYI: I have no first hand experience with a real world military or weapons development. Why does the US have such a large conventional military? A military half the current size would be able to defeat any other country, bomb Iran into the stone age (albeit take twice as long to do so), or fight al qaeda in Afghanistan. Moreover, 'fighting' terrorists is something best done with special forces and spies, with the conventional military providing death from above on demand. With the exception of a future China, no other nation will have the ability to economically outdo the United...