That's a good point. University labs are more nimble than a military contractor. The PI at a university directly does the work with their students (in some big

That's a good point. University labs are more nimble than a military contractor. The PI at a university directly does the work with their students (in some big labs, it's arguable that the PI manages the students that directly do the work). Whereas the contact at a military contractor is an accounts person, with lawyers and managers between them and the people doing the work. Cost-wise, universities usually charge an indirect cost rate of 50-65% (which many people improperly think it means is the percent of the grant money taken by the university), whereas the military contractor charges an indirect cost rate of 120-200%. So basically, about 70 cents of every dollar spent at a university directly goes towards the work (and trains students as a side effect; and as a triple bonus the cost paid towards student's tuition has no indirects on it at all), while only 30 cents of the dollar spent at a military contractor goes towards the work (and probably much less towards the people actually doing the work).