[f1refly]

> To trust your national security to something that is subpar seems like a recipe for having a bad time.

I'd rather trust my national security on equipment that's subpar but reliable and predictable, instead of trying to make my own and failing. Kind of like home security: I'd rather buy a lock for my front door that may be not perfect rather than trying to machine my own better version, even if I technically know how it works and could maybe make a working prototype. Military development is really, really expensive and extremely hard to do right when your state is still developing and running low on qualified engineers, physicists and mathematicians.

In any case, having recent russian weapons is more than enough when your neighbours are equipped with leftovers from the fifties.