Navy orders 8 new subs for $14B

[unhappycamper]

Navy orders 8 new subs for $14B
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 22, 2008 21:55:57 EST

WASHINGTON — The Navy on Monday awarded a $14 billion contract for eight new Virginia-class submarines to a division of General Dynamics Corp., part of the Navy’s plans to add to its nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

The submarines will be built by General Dynamics’ Groton, Conn.-based subsidiary Electric Boat in a partnership with Northrop Grumman Corp. Work will be done at shipyards that include Electric Boat’s Groton plant and Northrop’s Newport News, Va., facility.

The contractors will build one submarine per year in 2009 and 2010, then two per year from 2011 to 2013. The final sub would be delivered in 2019.

The two ship makers warned Congress earlier this month that they could be forced to make job cuts if the Navy did not place more orders. Escalating prices on many Navy ships has prompted the service to buy fewer vessels at a slower pace.

Electric Boat employs more than 10,000 workers at its Groton shipyard and its factory in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Northrop Grumman employs close to 3,000 workers on the submarine program at the Newport News shipyard.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_navy_submarines_122208/%2e



uhc comment: I call bullshit on the Navy - Virginia class subs cost $2.5 billion each. 8 x $2.5 billion = $22.4 billion. I guess they think nobody's listening. :(

[Angleae]

1. With warships, the more you buy, the less per unit they cost.

Development and tooling costs the same amount whether you buy 1 ship to 100 ships (the costs for such going with the first batch), so if you buy more, the cost per unit goes down. This applies to not just ships but basically anything not bought "off the shelf" such as aircraft, vehicles, weapons, etc.