My point was not over any personal particular concern over the FCS; I solely wished to point out that some projects have, at times, been shafted before pen has been put to paper. A rational design principle would result in those nations with specialist knowledge of a particular system designing that system, as opposed to the usual wranglings over "well, we could do with knowing how to build that bit, so lets give us a go".
As JF says, the French have done it in style and solo; designing next generation fighters, ships and a solid aircraft industry, in direct competition with Boeing - I have to say it is easy to bash a company for producing goods which take ages to reach full capability; yet without proper political backing (and im not talking about a few bob here and there to keep the workforce happy), our aircraft and more importantly aircraft systems industry is increasingly likely to go further down the toilet. If you want an example of true British multi-national aerospace engineering working togher look at MBDA... ASRAAM and Stormshadow; fantastic systems that, as I am led to believe, were designed and built mainly within our shores. Far more capable I would argue than their US counterparts. We are capable of it, but not while this government shys away from what is required.