Maineiac

I do agree that sometimes the government is their own worst enemy. I know some of the AF people that made earlier decisions and they had little or now real experience, many were HQ professionals.

Boeing tried to do this on the cheap buy using 737 software to do a tactical airlift. I could go into upteen dumb things that Boeing did trying to do this cheaply. Then have the audacity to tell our crew members things like they didn't know how to talk on the radio. Every problem that was brought up, Boeing answer was that "they designed it like that and it meets the requirements". I worked this program for over 4 yrs and I've been in the flight testing business for over 25 yrs and this was the WORST program I've ever seen, hands down. I've never been keen on the "J", but I have to admit it's financially irresponsible to spend this kind of money and actually loose capability. Weight, range, CG etc etc. Killing the program is the smart thing. I'm just surprised someone is actually willing to do it.