I think it's possible too, and I'm sure the military can/always is trying to cut money corners where it can so as to keep within budget, but I'm sure it all comes down to some massive cut in the military likely requiring us to decommit from some massive objective we currently are ahead on. Making sure we have enough presence to keep the South China Sea open, have enough equipment to give to countries we are allied with who have large enemies (see Ukraine, Taiwan), hold on to allies in strategic regions (see Israel - though I don't agree with what they do with equipment), be prepared for self defense or "necessary wars", be prepared to deploy to Europe because they underspend, maintain the nuclear arsenal so there's no catastrophe there, etc etc. No one wants to be the president who cut the budget so we lost in that field.

> I'm sure the military can/always is trying to cut money corners where it can

I doubt it. When the budget is billions of largely unaudited dollars and a senate that will approve any budget increases what reason is there to save money? I can’t imagine the nepotism found in military contracts are saving the military money when these companies gaining the contracts want as much tax-payer money as possible.

I actually like take homes as they feel like the best way for me to demonstrate I can code vs a Leetcode question which determines I have grinded or am amazing at mental pretzel puzzles.

What I DO HATE about take homes, is if you complete one, clearly put time into it, and then are refused feedback when you are rejected. If I put 2-10 hours into writing something for you, I at least deserve three sentences on why it wasn't accepted. I know these people are busy, but so am I. Most of us also have jobs, and even if we don't we want to know how to improve.