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Stuff for old models, like the E-3, is even more expensive. Obsolescence, tooling no longer available... A similar sotuation happens with spares for classic car
by hef19898 3y ago
Stuff for old models, like the E-3, is even more expensive. Obsolescence, tooling no longer available... A similar sotuation happens with spares for classic cars. Try getting rubber and plastic parts some old car models, same story: Lost tooling, low demand. For aircraft you have to recertify production and parts. All of that is actually quite expensive.
Edit: Since the article mentions circuits and such: The alternative to paying through the nose for spares for obsolete systems and parts is a new development. In which case price, and lead times, increase even more. And now contractors are obviously abusong that situation, but parts of those high prices can be explained by the fact that a lot of current, top notch, military hear is running on old, commercially sometimes even obsolete tech.
- cushychicken 3y agoPlayed that game before myself. It's really, really hard! And it costs a lot of human effort and time to do right.
- bombcar 3y agoOften you can't get the original part, so you have to hire someone to take standard rubber and mold it into what you need, which can be more or less expensive depending on the use.
- hef19898 3y agoAnd now imagine that the person doing that work has to be certified according to aerospace standards... And believe me, that happens all the time...
- sidewndr46 3y agoYeah from what I understand the Pentagon was going to retire the A-10 at some point due to airframe hours. Instead they just paid another company to build new wings for it. Although they obviously had to be similar to the original ones, the new wings were basically a totally separate R&D effort followed by a manufacturing contract for them.