Russian and Chinese aircraft development illustrates an iterative procurement model. New airframes may contain older systems, or proven airframes may receive new internal equipment, allowing industry to keep building without waiting for one enormous leap. The resulting family of variants can create a logistics problem, especially for a very large force. Smaller European militaries may be better placed to accept that tradeoff because their recurring orders would remain modest. Standardized components and open architecture would let successive batches improve without making every version wholly unique. Regular squadron-sized orders could preserve factories, design teams, and upgrade knowledge more reliably than long gaps between major programmes.
Notable Point · 35:12-36:49
Iteration can sustain a smaller defence industry
Small recurring production runs can preserve industrial skill when components are standardized and upgrade paths remain open, although too many variants complicate logistics.