Are there any financially large aerospace projects in the last thirty years or so which have come in near to time and price with a good product as well? If so, what was their secret?
It seems the only on-cost on-schedule projects were derivative programs and even some of them had trouble. P-8 (basaed on 737) was a successful derivative project. But Wedgetail (also based on 737) took much longer and cost way more than expected. But P-8 used mostly off-the-shelf technology. It was not bleeding edge. Wedgetail was very bleeding edge in the sensor and processing areas. I don't know what the excuse is for the KC-46. Nothing bleeding edge there that I can see. H-53K was a big success. But H-53E was a mess. Longbow Apache was a success.