Agreed that the SNAFU is epic - like one on the US West coast that's about to get airborne in a week or so. As far as compensation goes, the taxpayers you're referring to are well spread out over the consortium (not that that makes it much easier, except that UK Gov's not been "asked" for anything - yet?). OCCAR's the management agency, as the programme is kind of structured like the Tornado & Typhoon programmes were. The "who reports what and to whom" chain's by no means simple - and since the confusion across the Pyrenees became apparent, EADS/Airbus and Europrop have been taking strong measures to sort things out. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some bruised egos in Spain, as well as among the German (?) programmers in MTU. But shouting to "hang 'em all from the nearest lamp post" (after first suing the evil-doers to the limits of their overdrafts) isn't a lot of help, though understandable.
The negotiations about penalties and such will be starting soon, and you can be sure that they will be painful. Meanwhile, I'm sure you hope (like me) that the flight tests will go well and then .... Quien sabe?
