5 ms·

If it's anything like the hardware engineering programs I've been involved in, at qty=1 the cost is almost all R&D. That includes development of processes to bu

• mikepurvis 5y ago
  Oh absolutely, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if the cost for unit 2 was still another half a billion dollars. It would be fascinating to know.
• bumby 5y ago
  Aerospace isn't necessarily like that for a number of reasons. A large driver of cost is quality control. For example, when a custom part is manufactured it needs to go through a number of tests, some of the raw material needs to be kept and tracked for future testing, etc. When they get shipped they have to be be tracked and handled differently, sometimes accelerometers are placed on the cargo to measure any shocks, etc. They need to be stored in a bonded warehouse, often climate controlled throughout its life. All of that control, testing and documentation adds to the cost even after R&D is a sunk cost.