That doesn’t mean Super Tucanos should cost $20 million per unit.
I didn’t say anything about that. :P
The thing is, only one outfit showed up with a proposal that met *all* the rules set forth ahead of time. Their price is their price. I would love to see Beech get the contract as well, because that would be a big boost for them. But if they can’t follow the rules, that’s too bad.
Also, the $427 mil of the contract isn’t just for the airplane. It’s also for training, parts and other support, rendered on site in Afghanistan. To put that in perspective, the Beech projection for their plane that does not exist in production form yet was $14.85 mil a copy when the T-6 it’ll be based on cost roughly $6 mil per copy.
It should also be noted that when Beechcraft bid the JPATS competition and got the contract for the T-6, they pulled a similar gag. They promised the planes for $3.9 million despite only having prototypes. The final delivery cost ended up being $6 mil, an 80% or so increase.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_T-6_Texan_II
The T-6 is a development of the Pilatus PC-9, modified significantly by Beechcraft in order to enter the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) competition in the 1990s.[1] A similar arrangement between Pilatus and British Aerospace had also been in place for a Royal Air Force competition in the 1980s, although this competition selected the Short Tucano. The aircraft was designated under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system and named for the decades-earlier T-6 Texan.
The Beechcraft brand has since been purchased from Raytheon by Onex Corporation, a Canadian “private equity fund” which retained the name Hawker Beechcraft.[2]
The JPATS competition winning design was based on a commercial off the shelf Pilatus PC-9, with minor modifications. Additional requirements and conflicts between the Air Force and the Navy resulted in delays, cost increases (from initial estimates of $3.9 to roughly $6 million per aircraft) and a completely new aircraft that is 22% or 1,100 lbs heavier than the Pilatus.[3]
On April 9, 2007 the U.S. Department of Defense released their Selected Acquisition Reports, which reported that the T-6 JPATS program was one of only eight programs cited for Congressional notification for 25–50% cost overrun over initial estimates, which is referred to as a “Nunn-McCurdy Breach” after the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment. It is unusual for a program so far into full rate production to experience significant enough cost overruns to trigger this Congressional notification.[4]
So, yeah. This is the second time Beechcraft has showed up with pretty pictures and promises.