"...In 2001, U.S. Air Force personnel cleared the document cache for public release...But it took 11 years to crack open the boxes in College Park and glimpse the saucer secrets within..."
So for things the government wants to declassify, there's over an eleven-year waiting period. Wow.
Considering this is for a vehicle that never came close to working in its prototype form and was based on an ill-conceived fascination with a saucer design that required it to be nothing but an ensemble of jet engines with thrust redirection required in every direction it makes one wonder how anything ever gets released to the public.
This project is mentioned in the Wikipedia page ("Project 1794")--it actually predates the Avrocar. The attitude/flight control design was slightly different: where the Avrocar had an asymmetrical rotating ring around the edge to provide attitude control, the earlier design used thrust vector nozzles like those used in the Harrier and F-35.
It seemed the project failed due to engineering problems unrelated to the design: it had oil leaks, and at one point an engine broke free from the aircraft and launched off on its own, endangering the test engineers.
Had these unrelated problems not occurred, it's possible that they could have succeeded where the later Avrocar failed, since the control principles in the earlier project were sound and eventually successfully used in modern VTOL aircraft.
I think one might instead say that the military is trying to develop technology about two decades before it will actually see any use -- which means that stuff which is actually being used is nearly always using 10-20 years old technology.
The YF-22 development/demo contract was awarded in 1986. F-22s were deployed in war games in 2005 (19 years later), and saw combat in 2007 (21 years later). [1] So, there's about a 20 year lead between when we come up with a concept and finally work enough of the bugs out to have it deployed.
The F-35 is newer, and seems to be making progress. Its first planned deployment is 2017, and the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) development contract was awarded in 1996. Lockheed Martin's X-35 beat Boeing in 2001, as the X-35 had less risk [2]. So, the F-35 is likely to have a similar two decade span between prototype and initial concepts and deployment.
In that time, of course, there will be advancements in electronics, stealth technology, and weapons -- and the new craft will be testing them. (That's why we have Edwards AFB.) So not all of the tech on these planes is 20 years old -- but I still don't think we can call that "ahead of its time".
So for things the government wants to declassify, there's over an eleven-year waiting period. Wow.