military cost

[dannyday5821]

why do modern day tanks and fighter jets cost so much money? i mean stupid money, like 4.5million per unit some at even more!? what bumps up the price tag?

[wildwood]

A cynical view would be to say that big business runs politics. There is also a train of thought that certain western country(s) profit handsomely from providing the tools of war; everything from socks for the soldiers to fighter jets.

[SteveD]

There is a story (possibly an urban myth) that Nasa spent millions of dollars developing a pen which would write in zero gravity. The Russians, however, gave their cosmonauts pencils!

[jake-the-peg]

You're right it is an urban myth

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen .asp

[PortlandBill]

Regrettably because you cannot buy a tank or an aircraft 'off the shelf' at debenhams there is a great deal of support and design work that has to be paid for. We, collectively, are not great at committing to specifications either so there is what is called 'requirement creep' as one government changes the spec on something that was ordered some time back. Industry covers this creep in their costs. R&D costs are also high as each project seeks to find the edge of teh technological envelope to future proof its work as there is a long lead time on large projects. The UK holds feet to the fire if companies fail to meet stringent tests, either calendar or technical. Its just not that straight forward in spite of the rhetoric from ill informed media sources and often the politicians we elected. Before anyone goes off on one saying we could buy from the US I would point out that our freinds across the atlantic have a habit of switching off support when it best suits them. This can be more than inconvenient....

[kwicky]

In the USA armament sales is a big industry. Why do you think the USA wants to place missiles in Poland quite close to the Russian border when there was no threat from them.. The result will mean an upping of the weaponry of both sides keeping many in work for years to come.

[Teddio]

Formula 1 racing cars also cost "stupid money". To be competitive, teams must spend huge sums on research and development. Likewise the weapons industry.

[dustypuss]

what get to me is the fact that any country that is a possible threat to the western world probably couldn't muster enough money to send a spitfire up against us.

[Mortartube]

Military software costs a lot too. My friend creates and programmes software for military purposes and it has to be checked multiple times for bugs etc. He explained it to me like this.

The software that you buy from the high street, an accounting programme for example may cost the developers about a pound per line of typed in instructions to write.

Military software can cost up to around a thousand pounds per line to develop, parttly because of the already mentioned changes in spec.

Nasa software and other such very high end specifications can cost up to around �10,000 pounds per line to write.

Quite simple because of changes to spec and debugging and rigourous testing.

[theprof]

Well, as someone involved in this, I can say R&D, security, exacting Quality Control Standards, employment of the leading experts in their particular discipline and state of the art technology. None of this comes cheap.

As far as the US is concerned, The UK development agencies are acknowledged as having expertise in some fields which are sadly lacking in the corresponding american agencies.

[dannyday5821]

so out of interest then, what does the UK specialise in, that the USA lacks?

[dustypuss]

UK priministers sucking up to US presidents

[theprof]

Chemical warfare research, microbiological warfare, methods of protection from both, biochemical research specifically related to warfare and terrorist attacks, armour development (we are incidentally at the forefront of methods of protecting tanks from weaponry), immunisation research, explosives research, robotics, battlefield communication methods, security. That should give you a general idea.

If you have a few spare moments, look up the official websites of Porton Down and Fort Halstead etc via the main Dstl website. You may find the main QinetiQ website enlightening too. Rest assured, UK scientists at these establishments and others are regarded the world over by their colleagues as being at the pinnacle of their profession and expertise. It's not uncommon for USA military scientists to consult scientists over here for over definitive answers to their problems.

Incidentally, to be fair to them, USA military scientists have unparalleled expertise in the field of the so-called "Star Wars" technology.

[theprof]

dustypuss, I think Gordon Brown has put the tin-hat on that.

[benthinkin]

hey danny, i think a lot of the cost is because of the terms of the contract. ie. "cost plus contracts" what ever it cost to make and what ever you want to add to it. $200 hammer and the $1000 toilet seat and it will get worse i guarantee it.