Marvellous what the threat of imminent action can stimulate.
Think Vulcan and Falklands.
When my Boss CMetO HQSTC phoned to say "The bastards have invaded!" I asked "what can we do about it?" His exact words [expletives deleted] were that "The received wisdom here is: nothing".
I suppose the problem with Crowsnest is an order of magnitude different because the complexity is inherently difficult to speed up.