the m2 bradley apc started life in military r&d as a major boondoggle, and the bureaucratic wrangling got a major farcical propaganda movie made about it (pentagon wars) that was almost all lies, but the bradley's performance in the gulf war, iraq, and recently ukraine has been outrageously positive - it has the highest kdr of any afv since, basically ever. the f-35 is similarly a hugely expensive pork pie that also happens to be 2-3 generations ahead of its nearest "peers" from our most probable adversaries, and has been wild weaseling supposedly impenetrable russian anti-air defenses like the s-400.
United States