“I would argue that “make it cheaper” should not be top determinant - effective- more effective than any other - should be number one.
Second place in combat sucks.”
I agree with you. What I would like to eliminate are ludicrous political agendas. What good does a diversity program, elimination of lead based solder, elimination of cadmium and chromium plating do for the weapons? None of these things come cheap, nor are they beneficial for the end item. And, I suspect Congressmen simply don’t give a rat’s orifice about what evils those things do to the weapon as they got brownie points from their constituents or lobbyists for including them. I don’t think your average Congressman gives one moment’s thought about the soldier using the end item.
Using this system, we had minimal congressional interference and got what we wanted. The beast we built was fast, accurate, and very compact/light and passed all engineering and safety tests with flying colors.
I'd love to say that that system is now in the field but it isn't: it was stopped by the acquisition system that "didn't want a government design".