3 ms·
Looks like the Naval variant costs around 720k, with more baseline variants running ~340k. Considering the weapon was designed in the 90s I'd be curious if a m
by lumost 5y ago
Looks like the Naval variant costs around 720k, with more baseline variants running ~340k. Considering the weapon was designed in the 90s I'd be curious if a modern version could be done for less money with off the shelf components. Given that China's military costs roughly half the US's for the same gear this also puts this glide bomb in the cost range where anti-missile missiles start to look expensive.
- cgearhart 5y agoThat looks like all up round cost. The per-unit production cost of a weapon is typically much lower, and never really the dominant factor in overall program cost. (Overall costs are dominated by operations & maintenance, followed by R&D.) For example, the FYDP budget request for USN JSOW production shows a flyaway cost of past variants as $225k/unit, and the production cost for C-1 (and maybe -ER, which adds a rocket motor) variants decreasing from $613k to $466k by 2024. (Source: https://www.dacis.com/budget/budget_pdf/FY20/PROC/N/2230_6.pdf https://www.dacis.com/budget/budget_pdf/FY20/PROC/N/2230_6.p...) Most weapons use off the shelf components from the time they were designed, and moving to more modern components doesn’t save enough in production cost to justify the cost of redesign, testing and certification processes. If a 90’s chip was “good enough” to meet spec in the 90’s then it’s still good enough in 2021. (Assuming we’re even still building the 90’s variant and not just maintaining existing inventory.)