"There are...better financed tech companies." Unlikely. And given the secrecy surrounding their budgets, how could you know for sure? Even if you did, the doll

"There are...better financed tech companies." Unlikely. And given the secrecy surrounding their budgets, how could you know for sure? Even if you did, the dollars themselves are only part of the picture. The dynamic surrounding the money also has a big influence on how it can be used. A private company needing to post a profit operates under a set of constraints that are dramatically different from those that govern R&D in the military. Also, unlike private R&D teams, the military can unilaterally classify and restrict entirely categories of hardware (e.g. GPS units that function over specific altitudes or above certain velocities). And they can seize (in secret) any instances that threaten national security. That's a set of competitive advantages that the private sector, almost by definition, can never hope to match. Or at least not independently.