"Basically everyone involved decided to be an idiot and pick the most retarded way of doing things, as usual."
I heard a story about the Eurofighter procurement that agrees with your analysis: To try and save some costs, some bright spark in Govt thought the cannon could be dispensed with, as guns were deemed old school. The avionics however were trimmed to accommodate the weight distribution of the cannon, so said spark asked 'what can we have that has the same weight distribution as the cannon?' and the answer was 'The cannon'. OK says spark, we can save money by not buying ammunition.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
