The AEW case is slightly different - that was the MoD trying to play the role of Prime when they had neither the culture nor the competence to undertake it.
If I could slightly qualify that. MoD had the competence, but didn't deploy it to the Nimrod team. In 1985 my boss, who as a youngster had designed the front end of the Searchwater radar, bet me the programme would be cancelled by 1987, and stated why. He won, and I forked out my fiver. (OK, I bought him a drink). You are right to raise Nimrods. I still think a public inquiry into the MRA4 would rattle a few cages and force change for the better. Isn't going to happen, for political reasons.