> This reminds me that there have been many attempts to duplicate Lockheed's "Skunkworks". They've all failed. I suspect they failed because they always tried t

> This reminds me that there have been many attempts to duplicate Lockheed's "Skunkworks". They've all failed. I suspect they failed because they always tried to create a skunkworks by fixing perceived "shortcomings" of the original, not realizing that those shortcomings were what made it work. > It takes a lot of guts to create a skunkworks, because it defies all conventional notions of how to do things. Lockheed is very commendable for having those guts, but they remain the only one. Except for Boeing's Phantom Works, NASA EagleWorks, various "advanced concepts" or "preliminary design" groups across other aerospace companies, and various small aerospace firms operating with minimal overhead and extremely talented engineers (Karem Aircraft's head actually specifically cited Kelly Johnson's original rules for a SW-type organization, plus there's Joby Aviation, Makani/Google, Zee.Aero). Sure, none of them have produced anything like an SR-71 yet, but neither has the original Skunkworks since then. The SW legacy of a tightly knit group of elite engineers operating with minimal overhead and freedom to try radical concepts is alive and well in aerospace though.