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@de_Selby
Surely with such a background in aeronatics you’d know that “looks like” isn’t the same as “copy”, and that aircraft designed to fulfil a particular role are often very similar in layout. I can’t comment on all the examples you cite, but the Tu144/Concorde thing is an old canard (see what I did there?) with no substance. The distinctive shape is one of the few ways to get reasonable economy at Mach 2 and still land at relatively low speeds. Ditto the An-124/C5A: you want a heavy lifter with a massive hold for tanks and helicopters you need high wing and a lot of anhedral. But yes, in military aviation particularly, if you’ve got one I want one to counter the threat. It’s a bit odd to describe that as “shameless copying” and “knee jerk”. You know more than most that aeroplanes aren’t designed and built on a knee-jerk principle - it takes too long!