Steve, I was a PM at DARPA a decade or so ago, so I saw how the sausage is made these days.

My sense is that gov funding of advanced tech can be quite a tricky thing to get correct. (DARPA is probably better than the average)

lots of ossification can build up on pipes that have large dollar flows year after year.

In my opinion the OSRD was so successful because its mandate was so clear. WIN THE WAR. and the mandate was so compelling (trading personal advancement over the mission would be entirely unthinkable for nearly everyone). but rarely does gov funding have such a do or die, measurable mandate. (like corporate R&D tends to be)

Still perhaps the USA tends to do this messy operation a little better than others around the world?