The Canadian program seems to point out the difficulties that are being experienced by many programs world-wide, a product not just of the mistakes made by the company that produces the product, but also the mistakes made by the national military people who run their side of the project. If someone knows of a successful similar development project, post it here, please!
The development of a new system is often a delicate dance between the folks who specify and the folks who design and develop the solution to that spec, sort of like a new kitchen for a house, or a swimming pool. Bad customers make failed projects, and blaming only the contractor is often simplistic. No country seems to buy off the shelf, that all want to design a new system, and ask for one tailored to their preceived needs. Development is difficult because the folks who write the spec are also the folks who determine if the aircraft is in compliance, so that items that are poorly communicated often need redesign since the "judge" is also the "Jury" and the "Executioner".
When a junior officer (in charge of approval of a part of the system)decides the spec means something far beyond the scope of the previous junior officer who approved the original design (a near certainty since many officers rotate through assignments every 2 or 3 years), the project quickly collapses into a scramble to redesign and re-test. Since many of the project team members on the military side have no professional training, the comedy can be devastating, and can look like a Fawlty Towers episode.
I recall a country program where the manufacturer actually stole the partially completed aircraft at midnight from the in-country completion partner, and spiritited tham back to the home country for completion!
Most of the problems in the Canadian program seem to be on the system side, a highly specialized, separate program within the program, developed by Canadians for the project, and highly dependant on that collaboration between military customers and civilian developers. Rumor says that is the messiest part of this whole thing, and the most customized part, one that could not be off the shelf, since the military insisted it must be custom, specifically designed for the Cyclone.