One could say the same thing about a myriad of military programs the first that comes to mind being the F-22.
Not really, since there was never any danger of an F-106 or F-105 landing on an aircraft carrier. the company that makes the naval aircraft would always have the upper hand, unless of course you specify that both aircraft types must do the same things. In which case you are now funding two programs that do the same thing, and its only a matter of time before someone recognizes the redundancy and cancels one of them IE F135 vs F136
If the Government is willing to fund both programs for a half decade up until LRIP before deciding a winner (again) that is up to them. The Companies themselves sure couldn't afford it so the taxpayer will have to pay for both longer before deciding on one. Bonus question, if the aircraft continue to have issues, do we fund them up until full production and then cancel one in favor of the other after 100 or 200 units?
Always bet on black. But also red. bet on them both at once.
Thats not true at all, of course the unit price matters. Its far better to sell 100 1 million dollar planes than 1 100 million dollar plane. Especially if a potential customer only has 80 million to spend. The more you sell the more you can sell, and the more you sell the more support and profitability over a longer period of time. Of course unit costs matter especially in an international market. Its far better to sell 70 aircraft than 40 even if the amount is the same. Unit cost matters. You can't honestly think that if LM went to the USAF tomorrow and said "tell ya what, We will sell you half the planes at twice the cost, because the amount is all the same to us" that the USAF would say "Yeah that makes sense, who do we make the check out to?" Hell no it would be an Apocalypse.
There is competition, make no mistake if there wasn't competition we would havn't page after page talking about Eurofighter, Rafale, F-16s, Super Hornets, Gripens, F-15s, and even Flankers. There is huge competition especially on nations that are due to shop for aircraft in the future.
