Well it's military airplane so it's a bit special here, usually it's the costumer (i.e. the army) which is liable if the plane has passed the final tests. Howe

Well it's military airplane so it's a bit special here, usually it's the costumer (i.e. the army) which is liable if the plane has passed the final tests. However it's a complete different matter for civil airplanes : it's the lead dev/project manager which is liable for life for what he has shipped. For example, a retired engineer from Airbus was heard in trial for the Concorde accident in France in 2000.