cost overruns

It seems that in the last 20 years, defence contractors have been able to charge for costs well over what was bid for. I think the reason for this is lack of competition. The DOD seems to think that as long as you have different contractors submit bids or in some cases prototypes, that you have competition. But once a contractor has won a contract, the military just seems to have a “whatever it takes is ok” attitude for bring their wonderweapon into fruition. Back in the 50s and 60s technology was changing constantly so at anyone time there would be many different types of fighter planes for example, each trying to prove itself in service. This forced contractors to build affordable aircraft very quickly to earn contracts. Nowadays if a contractor looses a contract, it can really mean the end as there really wont be anything new available to them. My solution is that if multiple systems were developed instead of just one, we would save money in the long run because the contractors would only make money by producing a product, not just by winning a design competition.