4 ms·

While the American Dream of howitzer ownership may be alive and well among the 0.01%, it's getting harder and harder for the rest of us to maintain our $4,000/r

While the American Dream of howitzer ownership may be alive and well among the 0.01%, it's getting harder and harder for the rest of us to maintain our $4,000/round artillery habits. A modest proposal: the US Army should offer obsolete and surplus artillery in exchange for handguns. Given the price of ammunition, correlation between poverty and gun violence, the logistics involved in large-scale artillery theft, and the comparative complexity of non-assisted suicide by howitzer, this policy seems like a sure-fire way to drastically reduce the number of lethal gun crimes committed in the US.

foofie 3y ago
> (...) it's getting harder and harder for the rest of us to maintain our $4,000/round artillery habits. The $4,000/round figure sparked my curiosity, and after checking it looks like the actual unit price is below $2,000. There are some beefy pricetags being floated around, buy they are calculated indirectly by dividing the total cost of a ammo supply contract by the number of artillery rounds ordered. From the article, I wouldn't be surprised if those contracts also covered investments required to ramp up production, which is also covered by this article.
- jasomill 3y ago
  Cursory search suggests prices ranging from $400 to $1,800,000 per round for what I assume are wildly different types of 155mm ammunition, though I'm willing to bet the $1,800,000 figure is the total cost of a canceled production program that planned to deliver a large number of rounds, amortized across the small number of rounds actually delivered before the program was canceled. At $1,800,000/round, firing hollow rounds loosely packed with $100 bills and a note promising another volley as soon as the target agrees to stand down would probably be a more cost-effective option.

4 ms·

While the American Dream of howitzer ownership may be alive and well among the 0.01%, it's getting harder and harder for the rest of us to maintain our $4,000/r

by jasomill 3y ago

foofie 3y ago
> (...) it's getting harder and harder for the rest of us to maintain our $4,000/round artillery habits. The $4,000/round figure sparked my curiosity, and after checking it looks like the actual unit price is below $2,000. There are some beefy pricetags being floated around, buy they are calculated indirectly by dividing the total cost of a ammo supply contract by the number of artillery rounds ordered. From the article, I wouldn't be surprised if those contracts also covered investments required to ramp up production, which is also covered by this article.
- jasomill 3y ago
  Cursory search suggests prices ranging from $400 to $1,800,000 per round for what I assume are wildly different types of 155mm ammunition, though I'm willing to bet the $1,800,000 figure is the total cost of a canceled production program that planned to deliver a large number of rounds, amortized across the small number of rounds actually delivered before the program was canceled. At $1,800,000/round, firing hollow rounds loosely packed with $100 bills and a note promising another volley as soon as the target agrees to stand down would probably be a more cost-effective option.