Glad you agree with LJ, Beags.
You may be right. On the other hand, a couple of major defense contractors (LockMart and Selex-ES) are investing in hybrid/LTA at the moment, and they may be right for once.
Who knows? Personal view is that it's worth doing a properly run demo (not a run-before-walk project) to find out. And I certainly would advocate having exit ramps long before the $2.7 bn/20 year stage.