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The majority of military hardware costs are bribes, kickbacks and margins. Nobody thinks that they will fight a real war in which they will need a lot of hardwa

The majority of military hardware costs are bribes, kickbacks and margins. Nobody thinks that they will fight a real war in which they will need a lot of hardware. If the US or Germany get in situation they need thousands of those - I guess their cost will fall to under 1M.

mohamedkoubaa 4mo ago
If the US is ever in that situation again we won't be measuring cost of any manufacturable thing in dollars
- trillic 4mo ago
  Correct it’ll be in Yen
thephyber 4mo ago
Do you have any evidence of this? Also “and margins” seems like a stupid thing to add. Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike. And it’s not parallel to bribes / kickbacks which are corrupt and illegal. Margins are the natural outcome of capitalism + monopoly. Having S Korean competition means those margins would likely drop over time.
- ReptileMan 4mo ago
  >Do you have any evidence of this? I have been advisor to some people signing the deals. I would say that depending on the project in my slice of the industry at least 25-30% were outright redistributed to various stakeholders.
  - Loic 4mo ago
    Confirmed. The second industry with such redistribution is oil and gas, 5-15%. My figures are from ~2005.
    - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
      Fun stories of hearing about key equipment gets caught up in Libyan customs. Weeks and weeks of meeting various officials, learning about each others families, drinking tea, etc, before 'the cost of compliance' is finally raised.
- throwaway27448 4mo ago
  > Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike Countries with high margins during wartime don't typically win wars against peer powers. Cf nazi germany vs the soviet union. This is typically a luxury you see when rich countries fight poor ones (in absolute terms, including capital in the form of production capacity and tech IP/know-how)
- overfeed 4mo ago
  > Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike. Perhaps when fighting foreign jaunts against a minnow. Preserving high margins in an grinding, existential war against a peer would be considered anything from unpatriotic, to outright illegal war profiteering, and carries a real risk of the shareholders losing control and/or ownership of the organization through various war-time instruments.
watwut 4mo ago
> Nobody thinks that they will fight a real war in which they will need a lot of hardware. Germany is literally thinking there will be war and getting ready for it. The war is more likely then 4 years ago.

mohamedkoubaa 4mo ago

If the US is ever in that situation again we won't be measuring cost of any manufacturable thing in dollars

trillic 4mo ago
Correct it’ll be in Yen

thephyber 4mo ago

Do you have any evidence of this? Also “and margins” seems like a stupid thing to add. Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike. And it’s not parallel to bribes / kickbacks which are corrupt and illegal. Margins are the natural outcome of capitalism + monopoly. Having S Korean competition means those margins would likely drop over time.

ReptileMan 4mo ago
>Do you have any evidence of this? I have been advisor to some people signing the deals. I would say that depending on the project in my slice of the industry at least 25-30% were outright redistributed to various stakeholders.
- Loic 4mo ago
  Confirmed. The second industry with such redistribution is oil and gas, 5-15%. My figures are from ~2005.
  - gaiagraphia 4mo ago
    Fun stories of hearing about key equipment gets caught up in Libyan customs. Weeks and weeks of meeting various officials, learning about each others families, drinking tea, etc, before 'the cost of compliance' is finally raised.
throwaway27448 4mo ago
> Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike Countries with high margins during wartime don't typically win wars against peer powers. Cf nazi germany vs the soviet union. This is typically a luxury you see when rich countries fight poor ones (in absolute terms, including capital in the form of production capacity and tech IP/know-how)
overfeed 4mo ago
> Margins are high during peacetime and wartime alike. Perhaps when fighting foreign jaunts against a minnow. Preserving high margins in an grinding, existential war against a peer would be considered anything from unpatriotic, to outright illegal war profiteering, and carries a real risk of the shareholders losing control and/or ownership of the organization through various war-time instruments.

watwut 4mo ago

> Nobody thinks that they will fight a real war in which they will need a lot of hardware. Germany is literally thinking there will be war and getting ready for it. The war is more likely then 4 years ago.