[avn2109]

Surely there is somebody with enough brains in the Pentagon to diversify their supplier base away from the moribund Boeing-esque incumbents, right? If they haven't learnt this lesson post-SpaceX, when are they going to figure it out?

A couple billion bucks is pocket change to the DoD, they literally "lose" it in their couch cushions, and it could eventually be the difference between "viable domestic defense aerospace industry" and "buy threaded steel nuts for $9000 each, with an 18 month lead time and 5000 pages of paperwork."