THE U.S. AIR FORCE wants to "hold contractors more responsible for missing development targets" for military space projects by using more fixed-price contracts.

It’s was tried before, when I was working in the industry. It failed then, and it’ll fail again. Cost plus fee contracts are standard in the defense industry for a reason - the development risk is so great that no sane contractor would dare bid on a fixed price basis

And remember, too, that Congress allocates money one year at a time. Would you bid on a 10-year, multi-billion dollar fixed price contract knowing it was funded only one year at a time? Not if you’re sane.