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Is this right? Wiki says this bomb costs $3100...

It's a steel case packed with explosives, a fuze and not much else.

Even after standard government contract markup I'm not all that surprised.
 
I believe that number. Just ballbarking some more modern explosives it looks like $6 a pound or less for some. Vietnam era it was probably $1 to $1.50 a pound. 1800 pounds of explosive = $2700. A couple of bucks for a steel case add in the fuse, the safety, etc and it seems very possible that it could have cost $3000 or so 45 years ago.
 
I guess it's just a dumb bomb? Doesn't cost too much to make a few thousand pounds of ordinance, no matter how big it is. It mainly just falls from the sky.

The real cost would be ballistic missiles with expensive guidance and propulsion systems.
 
GagHalfrunt said:
I believe that number. Just ballbarking some more modern explosives it looks like $6 a pound or less for some. Vietnam era it was probably $1 to $1.50 a pound. 1800 pounds of explosive = $2700. A couple of bucks for a steel case add in the fuse, the safety, etc and it seems very possible that it could have cost $3000 or so 45 years ago.
Click to expand...

It's probably closer to current acquisition cost...

FY 2013 acquisition ammunition listing:

http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120207-051.pdf

Scroll down to page 83. Mk84 body is $5,100. $18 in explosives, tee hee. So an upgraded penetrator BLU117 2000lb bomb is $22,000 for 2013.
 
I like how they're called general purpose, it makes it sound like it's a consumer product you can just pickup at Walmart in the cleaning aisle. "For those really really tough stains!"

It's probably more like 500k once it's in the government's hands though. Everything turns more expensive, it's how they siphon money to fund top secret projects that even the president can't know about.
 
At least with bombs, it's hard to gauge how much the government is getting ripped off.

It's the stuff that everyone can buy that has truly baffling figures. With all the talk about the supposed want for a new sidearm, I saw that Beretta's last contract was IIRC 67 million for 'up to 100,000' pistols. So, best case...for a fucking order of 100,000 goddamn guns...$670 a piece.

A private citizen can obtain an M9 at a lower price. For a bulk order of...one.

Since we can't buy, say, an AT4, no one knows how much assrape is going on with a $5,000 (IIRC) disposable rocket launcher.
 
Very very large production runs can bring unit costs down a bit. And, as others have said, this isn't a complex device at all.
 
I got into a little fit of looking up prices for various armaments earlier. It's crazy how expensive some of this shit is.

Example: F/A-18 Super Hornet. A cool sixty million, which probably isn't that surprising. But still nuts.

What seemed crazy: As few as six guided missiles strapped to the underside of it can potentially cost almost ten million dollars.

edit: damn, ground warfare sure is cheap, though. An M67 grenade is under thirty bucks and a claymore mine is a little over 100.
 
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phucheneh said:
At least with bombs, it's hard to gauge how much the government is getting ripped off.

It's the stuff that everyone can buy that has truly baffling figures. With all the talk about the supposed want for a new sidearm, I saw that Beretta's last contract was IIRC 67 million for 'up to 100,000' pistols. So, best case...for a fucking order of 100,000 goddamn guns...$670 a piece.

A private citizen can obtain an M9 at a lower price. For a bulk order of...one.

Since we can't buy, say, an AT4, no one knows how much assrape is going on with a $5,000 (IIRC) disposable rocket launcher.
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You have ot remember a lot of those contracts (like the m9) include replacement parts as well. So extra springs, tools, ect are included. They are not just buying the guns and thats it for 670 bucks but rather everything needed to keep them running for thousands of rounds while being abused.Id say the average cost per a gun is probably more like 500 with the rest being for the maintenance items.

Some of the contracts also include items like holster, extra magazines, and other items along those lines (though i dont think the m9 contract included those)

but yes you could pick up a M9 civilian version for ~550



As for cost...im sure the Armed Forces guys in a heated gun fight dont give a shit if a rocket costs 10 bucks or 10 million as long as it can kill the enemy with precision when they are all of 100 yards away.
 
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:biggrin:
 
You have to ask yourself though... how much R&D (cost) goes into:

A) A Mark 84

B) A B-2 Stealth Bomber

Yes, the B-2 is probably a bad example to use, but it does illustrate the point somewhat. One thing is a box of boom with an alarm clock attached. The other thing is slightly more complicated.
 
This is why the defense industry is trying to move away from naval artillery to missiles. The main guns of battleships are cheap to fire and provide enormous firepower.
 
velillen said:
You have ot remember a lot of those contracts (like the m9) include replacement parts as well. So extra springs, tools, ect are included. They are not just buying the guns and thats it for 670 bucks but rather everything needed to keep them running for thousands of rounds while being abused.Id say the average cost per a gun is probably more like 500 with the rest being for the maintenance items.

Some of the contracts also include items like holster, extra magazines, and other items along those lines (though i dont think the m9 contract included those)

but yes you could pick up a M9 civilian version for ~550



As for cost...im sure the Armed Forces guys in a heated gun fight dont give a shit if a rocket costs 10 bucks or 10 million as long as it can kill the enemy with precision when they are all of 100 yards away.
Click to expand...

The M9 has lots of terrible issues and most hate the gun. The AT4 is supposed to be light but since each rocket launcher can only be used once they cost a lot of money to use vs any reusable rocket launchers. The Russians got it right and use both types of rocket launchers.
 
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