"Highly paid Defense Industry workers"
"I’d be willing to bet most of those workers are highly paid Defense Industry workers. You know which party they tend to vote for."
You might want to check that premise. A good start would be doing a search at the website of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers" under terms like "F-35" or "F-22."
Aside from that, I'm in complete agreement that most DOD projects (and NASA ones, come to that) are gigantic pork festivals.