I would speculate that at the end of the day everyone is aligned towards making it appear a success at all costs. Many parties want this for various reasons, and there are few dissenting voices:

- Lockheed, subcontractors, their equity stakeholders, their employees, and people living in towns supported by the project have an obvious economic interest in the continuation of this project. Lockheed cleverly subcontracted this project out to numerous states to amplify this effect.

- Ranking officials in the military have a vested interest as backlash from cancelling this program will potentially negatively impact their ability to suggest high cost projects in the future (please correct me if I am wrong here). Admitting failure with this project also makes our military look weak and incompetent.

- Many congressmen voted for this project and they will be exposed politically for having authorized it if it is a failure.

- Our president is exposed by not cancelling the project earlier / potentially voting for it as a senator.

- Leadership of allied nations would look foolish for placing orders for this plane sight unseen.

Meanwhile, most Americans could care less about military expenditures, so almost all the political pressure is directed against killing the program.