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Lockheed Martin breakthrough to create Mach 6 aircraft?
Lockheed Martin Corp. said Tuesday it is on the verge of a technological breakthrough that will allow its conceptual SR-72 hypersonic plane to reach six times the speed of sound. LMT's CEO said they could develop and build a hypersonic demonstrator aircraft the size of a F-22 stealth fighter for less than $1 billion. (www.ibtimes.com) 기타...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
ONLY a Billion a piece.... just what the Military Industrial Complex needs MORE corporate welfare; meantime, Rome is collapsing!!!
No that is develop for a billion, the first one will be another 283 million, the second 188 million...
I full well understand the economies of scale; BUT, let's be real. Projected cost NEVER equals ACTUAL cost when it comes to the military industrial complex's corporate welfare. ACTUAL cost equals projected cost times a factor of whatever funding the economy/spin propaganda can generate OR until the project is so DEEP in egregious overruns it's cancelled OR the production run is cut to a couple of test craft. The F35 "current" and growing ESTIMATED cost is 1/3 of a BILLION each, which is by any reasonable standard insane, ESPECIALLY when it does nothing well!
How well I know, however there are occasional fits of proper management. For example we (TI) brought in block one HARM (AGM-88), development and first x quantity of missles for a quarter of a million under the projected price. That sounds like chump change now, but we also outperformed the spec with a CEP under 1/2 the suggested minimum. Raytheon can't match that on new development now...
Correct, back in "our" day, some military contractors had ethics; however, as time has advanced so has the Industrial Military Complex's ability to "generate" cash-flow without regard to "need" or real "progress/purpose".
Think KC-46 Pegasus refuelers, "utilizing" 3D TV screens and 3D glasses for boom operation and NO refuelers' window should “glass cockpit” fail.
Only the current Industrial Military Complex could take an operational platform, the 67 airframe that has been in production for over 30 years, and figure out how to "obtain" $6.7 billion in development costs to use “off the shelf” components like a modified KC-10 refueling boom and the “glass cockpit” & electronics from Boeing’s new 787 airliner > then sell each plane at a cost 3.25 times GREATER than the inflation-corrected price of a KC-135. $40 billion is the current "estimated" total for 179 tankers PLUS a deal was cut to LEASE 20 more aircraft! Yet, the Italians and Japanese have been flying "their" version of a KC-767 for years now at a MUCH lower cost.
The KC-135 took from 1954 to 1957, just three years, from the time the jet aerial refueling competition was launched to the time the aircraft became operational; yet, this debacle is 10 years in "cash generation" development and the Republican's want to "BUILD-UP", spend MORE on our depleted Military? Utter Insanity!
Think KC-46 Pegasus refuelers, "utilizing" 3D TV screens and 3D glasses for boom operation and NO refuelers' window should “glass cockpit” fail.
Only the current Industrial Military Complex could take an operational platform, the 67 airframe that has been in production for over 30 years, and figure out how to "obtain" $6.7 billion in development costs to use “off the shelf” components like a modified KC-10 refueling boom and the “glass cockpit” & electronics from Boeing’s new 787 airliner > then sell each plane at a cost 3.25 times GREATER than the inflation-corrected price of a KC-135. $40 billion is the current "estimated" total for 179 tankers PLUS a deal was cut to LEASE 20 more aircraft! Yet, the Italians and Japanese have been flying "their" version of a KC-767 for years now at a MUCH lower cost.
The KC-135 took from 1954 to 1957, just three years, from the time the jet aerial refueling competition was launched to the time the aircraft became operational; yet, this debacle is 10 years in "cash generation" development and the Republican's want to "BUILD-UP", spend MORE on our depleted Military? Utter Insanity!
Could not have said it better...