Cold War 2 = Return to 80s concepts As we begin re-arming for Cold War 2, a number of “futuristic” new weapons are being announced. But when you dig deeper, many are actually concepts that began in the 80’s during the finale of Cold War 1. The new FireAnt UGV is especially notable, as not only the concept but even the name is identical to the the Fire Ant tested by Sandia in 1987-88. Some other examples of modern weapons originating in the 80’s: -Shahed 136 drone is a modernized version of the West German DAR from the 80’s -B-21 Bomber is a modernized version of the B-2 from 1989 -Typhon ground launched Tomahawk a return to Gryphon GLCM from 1983 -Fiber Optic FPV’s are a modern take of the FOGM and EFOGM fiber optic TV guided missile 84-98 No doubt there are many other ‘new’ weapons systems coming online that would be familiar to Cold War 1 designers in the 1980s. This is not meant as a knock on these weapons programs, and all these new weapons do indeed use much more modern technology and materials. But it is a sign of both how advanced 80’s weapons development really was, as well as how calcified weapons technology became after the end of the Cold War, the ‘Peace Dividend, and GWOT shifting technology toward battling sand people vs peer adversaries.