My company develops systems for DOD. The customer almost always insists on the source code.
Yep.
Discussed with a relative in a similar position.
In petrochem control systems, we put that requirement in the RFQ. If we can’t access it and see it to make changes later or fix problems, we get stuck paying THOUSANDS per day for the vendor to do changes on THEIR timetable. Not acceptable, especially if a shutdown is costing production thousands an hour to nearly a million per day in lost production.