Trillion-Dollar Stealth Fighter Cleared for Flight Training ~ Why did it cost that much?

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mrstickball said:

MrBubbles said:

mrstickball said:

Marks said:
So they're about $14-15 trillion in debt but they can afford another trillion on new planes? Holy shit that's messed up dude.

Its already been appropriated, and the costs are spread out over 50 years. At our current budget, thats $20b/yr or about 1/30th of the defense budget.

The American military procurement process is a mess, and it drives up costs far beyond what it should. Its making the flyaway cost of what we're building too high for usage. Many other countries are building and deploying their equipment at much more reasonable prices.

The American military is the pinnacle of why big government sucks. There is no single entity that spends more money than the DoD. This is what we get for it.

you also get electromagnetic rail guns, which is pretty cool. 

also cool...the navies killer dolphins with laser beams on their heads...or something like that...

Interesting thing about the rail gun is that the project was/is pretty darn cheap... Under $1b USD for the whole shebang. Money well spent, IMO.

$240 million so far according to this... http://defense.aol.com/2012/02/28/new-navy-rail-gun-fires-50-miles-with-no-propellant-latest-test/