"The Aerotim crew members laughed ruefully when they heard that, in the war in Iran, the U.S. and the Gulf states were responding to Shahed attacks using multiple Patriot missiles. Each Patriot costs about four million dollars."

The whole piece is great, but this passage strikes with some force as i imagine the role the US could be playing with a fraction of the military budget we instead squander in wars of spite.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/01/the-stunt-pilot-hunting-russian-drones