"...cut down on bureaucracy."
Long overdue, the JPO and LM have been strangling the program at the Flight Test level due to their inability to adapt to the new reality for a number of years now.
Requirements established over a decade ago are still in place with little movement to revise or rescind them to match current needs and capabilities.
There were no process or product improvement guidelines or practices established at the beginning of flight test to capture the problems, develop solutions and implement them as soon as possible. Nor did it appear that anyone was actually interested in doing so.
As but one example; The established process/product improvement practices on the F117 program was why there were 7 LO configurations for the fleet. As problems were identified during testing and operational flights, the fixes were incorporated into the production line. Eventually, once production was completed and $$ was available, the entire fleet incorporated Single Configuration Fleet LO modification to cut maintenance costs and dramatically improve the LO signature of the aircraft.
8+ years after the inception of flight test, they are just now beginning to develop the practices which should have been in place at the beginning. Absolutely insane.
