Money, Money, Money, Money

[unhappycamper]

Out of boredom I was watching the 20th Anniversary showing of Pretty Woman last nite. Since I haven't seen it for 10 years or so it was interesting.

When Richard Gere's shitball lawyer was going after Ralph Bellimy's ship building company, Gere wanted to reach out to a Senator on the Appropriations Committee and put a hold on the $375 million that was coming Bellimy's company.

So what was that $375 million for? A contact to build 10 destroyers.

Imagine that. $37.5 million dollars to build a destroyer. For Uncle Sam's Navy. Color me surprised.

Let's fast forward to 2008 when the first two DDG-1000 destroyers were built. These two destroyers came in at $10.5 billion dollars. Yup, you heard it right. Roughly $5.25 billion per destroyer. That's about 1,500 times more expensive than those 1990 destroyers. Needless to say, these two pigs in a pole will most likely be the last we ever see of the Zumwalt-class destroyers. Or our $10.5 billion dollars.

The Navy went back to building DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers which were considerably cheaper than $5+ billion a copy. Now to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arleigh_Burke_class_destroyer

Development

In 1980 the United States Navy initiated design studies with seven contractors. By 1983 the number of competitors had been reduced to three; Bath Iron Works, Todd Shipyards and Ingalls Shipbuilding.<7> On 3 April 1985 Bath Iron Works received a US$321.9 million contract to build the first of class, USS Arleigh Burke. <11> Gibbs & Cox was awarded the contract to be the lead ship design agent.<12> The total cost of the first ship was put at US$1.1 billion, the other US$778 million being for the ship's weapons systems. <11> She was laid down by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, on 6 December 1988, and launched on 16 September 1989 by Mrs. Arleigh Burke. The Admiral himself was present at her commissioning ceremony on 4 July 1991, held on the waterfront in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.

So. The destroyer currently being built costs around $1 billion or so, which is 26.5 (or so) times more expensive than the 1990 destroyers. Ka Ching.

So what can you buy these days for $37.5 million? Not much.


The two LCS ships we have cost $600+ million and $704 million each. Ka Ching.

Each of the two submarines we build each and every year cost $2.8 billion dollars a pop. Ka Ching.

The new Ford-class aircraft carrier costs $11.5 billion sans people or airplanes. Ka Ching.

F/A-18 fighter bombers cost $68 million a pop. Ka Ching.

MV-22 Ospreys cost $70 million a pop. Ka Ching.

National Security Cutters cost $536 million a pop. Ka Ching.

F-22 Raptors cost $355 million a pop. Ka Ching.

F-35 Lightnings cost $239 million a pop. Ka Ching.

Don't forget it cost us (you and me) $1 million dollars per boot on the ground in Afghanistan per year. Ka Ching.

The cost of delivered gas in Afghanistan costs around $400 dollars per gallon. Ka Ching.


And now you have a good idea why we are spending almost a trillion dollars a year on the Department of Defense War.

[Wapsie B]

1. But where will we find the money for health care reform?

:sarcasm:


Taking $$ out of spending like this, that's how.

[Mari333]

2. you know, they are not even trying to hide the oligarchy anymore

knr

[FSogol]

3. You are assuming that Richards Gere's estimate was correct in 1990.

BTW, sorry if this surprises you but, the movie also had an inaccurate portrayal of prostitution.

:shrug:

[Greyhound]

4. Thanks for noticing. K&R.

[TexasObserver]

5. Recommend

[Statistical]

6. WTF? Your prmary reference was PRETTY WOMAN. Pretty FUCKING Woman?

The DDG-51 has NEVER cost anything close to $37 million. Hell you can't build a cargo ship the size of DDG-51 for $37 million.

Cost of DDG-51 since inception has varied from about $800 million to about $1.4 billion.

The cost increase came from three places:
1) inflation. cost of goods, materials, wages has increased about 47% since 1990. So the DDG-51s being built now are actually cheaper in real terms compared to the originals.

2) tech improvements. The DDG-51 has gone through 3 modernization upgrades (Flight I, Flight II, Flight IIA). This was planned for from the begining and it is still cheaper than building 3 different generations of ships.

3) Reduction in contract. The program amortizes costs over all units. Originally the program was to build 87 ships at a rate of 5 per year. Now it is 50 ship fleet at rate of 2 per year. Doing so raises unit cost.