We can all be patriots here and fully support whatever it is our military deems necessary for success - but it is also important to not let our patriotism blind us from making wise fiscal decisions. Still taxpayer $ funding our troops...
I agree, remember this is not some vendor selling overpriced goods, this is the government demanding overpriced stuff.
Some years ago I ran an advanced research project in DoD and one of the efforts was done by what was then a small start up company - Radon. I set out to show that small, portable gunnery trainers could be built that were every bit as good as the large and elaborate ones. Radon built them at a fraction of the cost of existing gunnery trainers. The National Guard and the Marine Corps were interested and procured a number that met their requirements. The Army wasn’t interested and continued to buy the gold plated variety. That attitude continues to this day. If industry builds something that is effective but austere, they will never sell a thing.