Reply #6: WTF? Your prmary reference was PRETTY WOMAN. Pretty FUCKING Woman? [View All]

[Statistical]

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.