The problem isn't the amount of money itself, it's that it can't work and never will: too many stakeholders ruin normal and simple software projects, and the DoD is that at its absolute worst.
Asking all of the IC agencies to settle on something common is like asking all of the construction workers at a site to get their tools from a common toolbox: everything is going to be in there, but it's going to be a jumbled mess of different priorities that everybody resents.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/dodiis/2018/08/14/the...
Barring further releases of information (or a HN reader being willing to do a little bit of leaking), I don't think anybody can confidently assert that the $300M spent on DTE will be meaningfully reused in the next "iteration."
Sounds par for the course. Link to Pentagon Wars:
But yeah - joint programs are fraught with problems and dynamics (tragedy of the commons is one major one).
It’s a different level of money altogether, but 300M is a small amount of 715 BN dollars in the DoD budget planned for FY 2022.
But when you’re operating at that scale, 300M is almost in the “let’s try it and see if it works”.
DNI had 60+ BN in appropriations for FY 2020.