See http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23855599-662,00.html#submit-feedback
So it was with some relief that by day’s end the company had, for the first time, revealed a realistic figure on the fly-away price for Australia’s new frontline air combat aircraft.
That $58.7 million will be for each of the first 368 foreign-bound fighters to roll off the line.
It was the price the Pentagon, which sells military gear to foreign countries, quoted to Norway as
it decides between the JSF and other options, including the European-built Eurofighter and SAAB Gripen.
According to those who know, it is a very competitive price.
Even allowing for inflation, the price, to be offered to the eight JSF consortium members (Australia, Britain, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada and Denmark) early next year, is up to $10 million a plane below what Australia had expected to pay.
Given the RAAF is due to sign up for 100 planes next year, that is a potential saving of $1 billion.
“That pays for an awful lot of flying hours and support systems,” an Australian official said.
It also puts a cap on the project’s cost, allows Australia to buy with an unprecedented degree of certainty — and it virtually eliminates the incentive for the Government to delay its order.
Well we now have a quoted price?…
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June 13, 2008 at 8:47 am