No vote joe - you are right to probe this corner of the universe, but still a little green behind the proverbial. Sqdn Ldr bloggs or Lt Cdr sproggins who leaves to join such outfits is better than nothing, undoubtedly, but when it comes to the juicy bit where they select the "right" aircraft, it's down to the band of lobbying contractors who have been exposed to all this time and time again. Atleast the winning team will have several in their team who have masses of commercial/legal/technical/strategic experience based on what the customer wants but biased to what the supplier needs to sell.
At the end of the day, the customer doesn't really know what they want (without being derogatory), they rely on the supplier 'advising them what is going on outside in the real world, what is good, what is bad, what is coming, what is lapsed, what the enemy have, what the politicians need. A most complex game led by some very charismatic and enabling individuals, who eventually 'hook' the client with the best interests of all concerned....you understand
