"developing small batches of fighters with multiple companies, much like the Century Series of aircraft built in the 1950s, Roper said."
Do we even have multiple companies anymore? Sure, there's Boeing (Boeing, McDonnell, Douglas, maybe part of Convair?), Northrup/Grumman (Northrup, Grumman), Raytheon (I don't even know how many rolled up in this one), LockMart (Lockheed, Martin, part of Convair). That's 4, out of the multitude of 50s-era aviation companies: Consolidated, Vultee, Martin, McDonnel, Grumman, Northrup, North American, Fairchild, Republic, Vought, others I'm forgetting. There's 4 companies, optimized for extracting large dollars from DoD and CIA contracts, instead of 10-20 companies, optimized for getting airplanes on runways. I kind of doubt this will work. The DoD, and Air Force in particular, have quit getting things done in the last 30 years, in favor of spending money in all the congressional districts in the US.
Do we even have multiple companies anymore? Sure, there's Boeing (Boeing, McDonnell, Douglas, maybe part of Convair?), Northrup/Grumman (Northrup, Grumman), Raytheon (I don't even know how many rolled up in this one), LockMart (Lockheed, Martin, part of Convair). That's 4, out of the multitude of 50s-era aviation companies: Consolidated, Vultee, Martin, McDonnel, Grumman, Northrup, North American, Fairchild, Republic, Vought, others I'm forgetting. There's 4 companies, optimized for extracting large dollars from DoD and CIA contracts, instead of 10-20 companies, optimized for getting airplanes on runways. I kind of doubt this will work. The DoD, and Air Force in particular, have quit getting things done in the last 30 years, in favor of spending money in all the congressional districts in the US.