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It helps when the CIA and their unlimited bankroll pays for it. The CIA literally paid for the development of JP-7 and built Area 51 for the U2.

It cost Lockheed $3.5M, or about $37M today to build the prototype. It was actually under budget.

They also expected some percentage of pilots to die during development. That is no longer acceptable.

Given the F-35 debacle, I'd say the U2 program was still better run than "modern" aircraft development.