I love keeping up with military technology. It is a hobby of mine, going back to the days when my second field in graduate school was security studies.
I don’t pretend to be an expert, of course, because that requires time and experience I don’t have. But I am above-average in knowledge about the issue simply out of interest.
So, of course, I have kept up with the Next Generation Air Dominance program, with all the leaks, discussions about capabilities, cost, progress, and the like on my “to follow” list. And until just about yesterday (really, the past few weeks), the news has been exceptionally good. The project was on time, on budget (more or less), and breaking records. While we haven’t seen a design, we have been told that tests have already taken place and that records have been broken.
Then, in the blink of an eye, things turned sour. Suddenly, the Air Force is talking…
