Let's talk about the Tomahawk cruise missile. Introduced 40 years ago, and most likely still unparalleled until today. Wikipedia states that the unit cost is $

Let's talk about the Tomahawk cruise missile. Introduced 40 years ago, and most likely still unparalleled until today. Wikipedia states that the unit cost is $2MM in 2022 dollars [1]. Not clear where the number comes from, but if you check the DoD budget ([2], page 86), you'll see that the 2024 procurement for the US Marine Corps will be of 34 missiles for $105 MM, which comes to a bit more than $3MM apiece. The more concerning thing is the number though: the entire US military will procure only 34 missile for the 2024 year. For a sense of scale, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 802 Tomahawk missiles were fired. If we ever get into a hot war with China or Russia, we'll need to fire thousands per month. How can the military industrial complex scale from 34 per year to thousands per month? I hope that the reason these missiles are so expensive is that they keep the assembly lines running, so that if the need arises the production can quickly ramp up. But it's a very difficult optimization problem: on one hand you don't want to waste money on missiles you will not need, on the other hand you want to be able to get them in huge quantities when you'll need them. How do you maintain the production capability as a nation at peace? I can appreciate that the answer is not easy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_(missile) [2] https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_Weapons.pdf https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudg...