More like $370-$430 million, depending on length of produciton run.

The oft-quoted "$700 million" figure includes an allocated percentage of
sunk costs.

Those sunk costs have already been paid in the initial production run.

The need to allocate additional start-up costs is not zero, and grows with
every passing quarter as tooling, expertise, etc. evaporates.

Even though the fixed costs of production are mujch lowere in a follow-on
run, they are still not zero. And once again, the cost per unit will depend
on the number of units produced.

And to top it off, the "Logistics Costs" [sic] also depend on many factors;
they are particularly sensitive to two issues: the technology involved
(higher with the original buy; much lower on a follow-on buy), and the fleet
size (economies of scale kick in with the follow-on buy).

Steve Swartz



"Billy Preston" wrote in message
news:NrCSc.14$ni.10@okepread01...
"BUFDRVR" wrote
Billy Preston wrote:

There was an attempt to fund more bombers as B-2C's and
they would be non-nuclear, and take advantage of what's been
learned since the first design (which is a lot).

Except that eliminating the nuclear OFP and hardening would save little
in
comparison to the $400+ million manufacturing cost. The B-2C would still
be a
very expensive aircraft to build and operate.

More like 700 million :-(

I don't know if you have access to the numbers on logistics, but if you
compare the B-2 with any other bomber, the costs are phenomenal.

I was always in Ops squadrons when I was in the Air Force, and have
never seen the kind of money that is in the B-2 budget for Palmdale,
Tinker, and Whiteman. Working alongside Northrop has shown me
how to make millions in minutes, for basically telling Generals and
Colonels what they want to hear. Regardless if Northrop ever delivers.

I had a guy who's been with Northrop for 20 years tell me that they are
not updating the B-2 modification database, and they are delivering the
wrong parts to the field. His boss in LA told him not to worry about it,
because the Air Force has decided not to fund the database, and when
they finally realize their mistake, they will be able to make millions
fixing
the problem, and only thousands if they were sustaining.