In article .net,
"Thomas Schoene" wrote:

Tony Williams wrote:

The BK 27 was originally selected purely on merit.

When you're talking about contracting, "merit" always includes an economic
dimension.

From Defense Daily International:
http://stage.defensedaily.com/VIP/ddi/previous/ddi1122.htm#A3

"Burbage emphasized that both the BK 27 and GAU-12 were able to meet
JSF's lethality requirements, which include probability of kill and
accuracy. He said the GAU-12, which has a higher rate of fire than the
BK 27, was able to meet the requirement by putting more rounds on the
target.

'Performance and affordability are equally important in our selection
process,' Burbage said. 'If we have two candidates that are comparable
in technical performance, but have significant differences in terms of
affordability, we will pick the one that is more affordable.'

Burbage also said there were more technical negatives against the BK 27
than the GAU-12. Cost in three areas, unit recurring fly-away cost,
ammunition, and operational support, tilted the decision in favor of
the GAU-12, he said."

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