"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Dan Luke" wrote:

Congress has been upset about the astounding cost of the Raptor, which
has gone from around $90 million to nearly $200 million per plane.

Congress has this insane ability to be astounded at cost growth, even
cost increases they inflict on the system. :-/

Bear in mind it's all about quantities. If you spend a billion, and only one
plane, that one plane is $1Billion. If you build 1,000 of 'em, the cost per
unit goes down. True, the costs have escalated (as have most government
projects) but, shortly after contract award in 1991 (with go-ahead in
October 1991), congress initiated three contract change proposals (CCPs)
before 1996. Each one stretched the contract a bit more. Stretch a contract,
and you add $$$. What are you going to do - fire everyone for awhile then
try to hire them back? Training / retraining is a big chunk of change. As
is starting / stopping subcontractors. If you marginalized a subcontractor
during the initial contract, and you give them a chance to re-bid it as part
of a contract extension, what do you think they're going to do? ;-)