After Stumble, Army to Restart Design Competition for Bradley Replacement

They each contributed something to the military. The lessons and technologies of cancelled programs are rolled into legacy systems through ECPs, MWOs, Block Upgrades, and/or an A1 variant.

Even small things get reused. The gun on the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche is being modified/evolved for use on the FARA Helicopter.

It isn't like all the hard drives are wiped, all the hardware melted for scrap, and all the engineers are executed or commit seppuku. Institutional knowledge is retained and inserted whenever possible. The hardest part of getting a system to work is knowing what to do when it doesn't. Working on a cancelled program gives some experience in that.

/r/army Thread Parent Link - military.com