Perhaps the only advantage of getting old is that one has more experience to draw on.
During the mid 1940s a Spitfire cost £5000. Less than 10 years later the Hunter cost £250,000. Plus when you fired the guns the Hunter’s engine stopped. You can imagine what some people thought about this at the time.
I have taken an interest in military aircraft procurement from then to the present and watched (not just in the UK) throughout this period the trend of unexpected costs, issues of introducing immature technology and contract problems. The only exception to this generalisation that I have noticed was the RAF Hawk – and there were special reasons why this did not follow some aspects of the trend.
Forgive me if I can’t share some people’s excitement at the F-35 events of today.