My experience with highway construction is that a lot depends on the highway inspectors (who are employed by the highway department, not by the firm doing the construction). If they're lazy the highway will seem fine on day one, but will be quite rough within a year. If they're diligent it will remain smooth for a long time.

So, it seems possible that the military bureaucracy doesn't do a very good job of supervising the work done by armaments manufacturers, while the spy-satellite bureaucracy does an admirable job. I'm surprised!