At the SHM last year, Huff made mention of the fact that there were many low altitude applications for the strat. So, why not focus on what's more quickly achievable and profitable in the near term? It's also been a given that military applications could much more quickly bridge the FAA hangup.
Oh, and let's not forget "fully funded".
"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it".---Albert Einstein