I meant that statement in the sense of it's not really as if we've lost the knowledge from some golden age of engineering. I'm guessing it would be enormously difficult and expensive to build an IBM 360 as well. (Or, if that's not a good example for some reason, certainly any number of other obsolete computer systems.) But people don't normally lament the fact that we can no longer manufacture a 1960s-era computer.
But, that said, fair comment. It's the reason that there are always various military projects ongoing to basically replace old technology (such as guidance systems) with modern tech. Not necessarily to upgrade capabilities, but simply because we can't build the old stuff any longer.
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I meant that statement in the sense of it's not really as if we've lost the knowledge from some golden age of engineering. I'm guessing it would be enormously difficult and expensive to build an IBM 360 as well. (Or, if that's not a good example for some reason, certainly any number of other obsolete computer systems.) But people don't normally lament the fact that we can no longer manufacture a 1960s-era computer.
But, that said, fair comment. It's the reason that there are always various military projects ongoing to basically replace old technology (such as guidance systems) with modern tech. Not necessarily to upgrade capabilities, but simply because we can't build the old stuff any longer.