"It may be apocryphal but someone said that if current R&D and military budget trends continue even the USAF will only be able to afford to acquire a single aircraft by the middle of the century!"
Not Apcoryphal at all - thisis the well known Augustine's Law
In 1983, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics published the first edition of Augustine’s Laws by Norman R. Augustine, then president and chief operating officer of Martin Marietta Corporation. The book is a humorous, but insightful look at the problems of managing a large corporation
Law Number XVI. In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. The aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy, 3.5 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day
he showed that from 1910 onwards the cost of US tactical aircraft increases at a rate of 4 times every decade - what is really frightening is that every US aircaraft built since 1983 falls on or close to his prediction......