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A quick look at an example of the big-ticket items immediately shows that's not what's going on here. From the article: > The investigation also revealed that

by culi 3y ago

A quick look at an example of the big-ticket items immediately shows that's not what's going on here. From the article: > The investigation also revealed that Raytheon Technologies had raised the price of Stinger missiles from $25,000 to more than $400,000 per unit. “Even accounting for inflation and some improvements, that’s a seven-fold increase,” Shay Assad, a former Pentagon acquisitions official, told 60 Minutes. See also, > Experts say much of that contractor price gouging has worsened over the past few decades as the military sector has experienced dramatic consolidation. In the 1990s, there were more than 50 “prime” DoD contractors capable of competing for major contracts. Now, there are only five.

ceejayoz 3y ago
In the case of the Stinger, it's also because they have to reengineer it a bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger#Replacement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger#Replacement > The original Stinger's reprogrammable microprocessor has become obsolete in 2023, and a service life extension will keep the Block I in service until 2030... Raytheon Chief Executive Greg Hayes said on 26 April: "Some of the components are no longer commercially available, and so we’re going to have to go out and redesign some of the electronics in the missile of the seeker head. That’s going to take us a little bit of time". (I'd imagine that process comes with a whole big round of destructive testing, certifications, tooling changes, acceptance testing, etc.)