Kurt,
By this stage the project in question was cancelled by the Congress for various reasons.
Most external analysts agreed that the design it was trying to achieve was operationally unsuitable to the doctrine, which was soon abandoned by the USMC.
Moreover, you don't know how the USMC came to require the cancelled design, which it worked on from 1996 to 2010 as part of that project, but which had its genensis with a US Army project at Ft Eustis in the early 1950s.
In general if a design is unachievable after two decades, then my submission was as good as any.
Literally hundereds of military officers and engineers had been on the program by the time it was cancelled.
Was the problem that they failed to find the right technological solutions?
No, the problem, confirmed through several interviews, was that NO ONE ASKED THE QUESTION - what problem is this design solving?
If your company had tried for 20 years to remain competitive in the market, and failed, adn you were facing bankrupcy, I think you would consider my paper :-) If not you, then your accountant.
The program in question spent $3.5 billion by the date of cancellation. This is irrecoverable.
Greg