Maybots dream of a space programme.

[L00b]

Most countries don't have an arms industry beyond perhaps small arms. Five countries (I'm sure you can guess which) make up about three quarters of all arms exports and the majority of countries import major arms (artillery, tanks, planes, ships)

"the majority of" is a very relative expression: many countries 'buy' weapons from the five (-and more) as licensing rights to manufacture (so many-) copies domestically, which allows them to (security-) control all aspects of production and to make their own further developments. It's far from 'just' small arms, we're talking all sorts of wheeled and tracked vehicles (armour, missile carriers, APCs <etc.>), planes, helicopters...all sorts.

 

Example in point (a highly visible one known to most I'd think, which is why I picked it, but not the only one by far) Israel, which has tweaked and "improved" the US-made F15 and F16 jet platforms independently of the US, to the extent that the US has then bought or cross-licensed these improvements 'back in'.

 

Doesn't matter if the government is the US' or Switzerland's: anything new that has a military applicability (and in this day and age, it's not limited to hardware painted green, by very far) gets screened before it goes public or leaves the country. That's how and why e.g. you will find an equivalent to section 22 of the UK Patent Act mirrored in the domestic patent law of any country around the globe that has one

[Puggie]

Britain's first commercial astronaut training centre to open in 2019 with a pool that is 3x deeper than NASA's facility

 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/28/uk-blue-abyss-world-first-commercial-space-research-centre/

[andyofborg]

I've heard, we're going to send Liam Fox to do a free trade deal with Mondas.

 

Free upgrades for you all.......

 

Resistance will be futile