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This is the tech precursor of the Falcon 9 first stage, and shows that we could have been way ahead if we'd funded such things more way back in the 80s and 90s.
It is so hard for large organizations with existing hardware and systems to develop completely new systems. That's why new companies work. Nasa is the existing org of course. Space X is the new one. It happens over and over again.
This was truly amazing for the mid-nineties, I just thought it would be a huge return on investment.

Wasn't it supposed to be based on the avionics from an F18, what goes into avionics anyway? How could F18 avionics be repurposed?

I'm guessing there are common parts like sensors and maybe some common code or electronics for doing things like determining vehicle orientation.