Posted on 04/15/2017 3:45:28 AM PDT by hotdogjones
The US's Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb does not cost $314 million, or $16 million, but $170,000 a unit, the US Air Force told Business Insider on Friday. The weapon, whose acronym inspired the nickname "Mother of All Bombs," was produced by the Air Force, not by a third party like Lockheed or Boeing, "so we don't have a standard procurement cost associated with them," an Air Force official said. The $170,000 figure makes sense considering a general-purpose 1,000-pound MK-83 costs about $12,000. The MOAB simply features more high explosives and larger fins to direct the GPS-guided munition. Many outlets, including The New York Times and Business Insider, inaccurately stated the cost of the MOAB as being in the millions. Business Insider's article has since been corrected to reflect this information.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
It’s a good bang for the buck
$170,000 is an amazingly small sum compared to 0bamas bill! 0 spent 10x’s that for a few Isis cuts and bruises.
!. MAKE SOME MORE!! MAKE SOME MORE!! PLEEEEEZ!!!
2. It is interesting, that those ‘directional fins’ are the same as the ones used by the SpaceX renewable first-stage rockets.
3. The differences between $12,000.00 and $170,000.00 are that the 1000 lb. ‘dumb bombs’ are produced under contract, and in large quantities, so ‘they are cheaper by the gross’, where the ‘MOAB’ employs a military-grade GPS system, (unlike the one in your SUV that directs you into the gully), as well as a higher grade and amount of explosives.
Compared to the value of a fully trained, experienced 18B, $16 million sounds cheap and $170K sounds trivial. I wonder what the De Alencar family would say?
Recent story here on FR said an AF spokesman claimed there is no way to calculate cost since it was (except for guidance package) built completely “in house.
The guidance package cost about $3500 and the explosive were really cheap bringing the material cost of the bomb to “about” $20,000 or possibly a bit more.
Usual and customary FAKE NEWS from the NYSLIMES, the paper not fit to be used in an outhouse.
Jeez, should have used that on the airbase instead of all those tomahawks.
I’m guessing that is a per unit replacement cost and does not account for R&D.
MOAB is a big f’n IED.
Nonsense.
$5 per pound? The explosives cost more than that. A lot more.
Here’s what the Guardian wrote:
Apr 14, 2017 · Each Moab, or massive ordinance air blast – nicknamed the “mother of all bombs” – costs $16m (£13m) out of a total programme cost of $314m.
Since its days as a Trotskyite rag the Guardian has been an untrustworthy news source.
Would that go into the R&D for the twenty ton bomb developed during WWII, an example of which was once located at Aberdeen Proving Ground (and now at Fort Lee?)? I believe an economist would consider the bomb, once produced, a sunk cost. Its value in inventory is nil. Its value on the battlefield is incalculable.
The bomb is so big it has to be dropped out the back of a big, slow, very vulnerable cargo transport aircraft. It doesn’t fit in any bomber we have. Therefore it can only be deployed in areas where we have complete air supremacy and no active ground anti-air systems above MANPADs (Stingers or the like).
We don’t have that in Syria.
Yep.....that’d be my guess too. The other numbers are probably costs for various stages of design, development, integration with guidance and test.
Are you disputing the cost of $170,000 vs. the prior reporting of $16 million?
If you go back and look at the history of it, the statement “entirely in-house” is misleading. There were more than one contract let subcontractors for all the stages of design, development, integration with guidance and test. I know Dynetics, Inc. is one of them.
Now all we need is to make them stealthy and covert them to cruise missiles on the cheap. Imagine having thousands of those at the ready for our next conflict.
I think the MOABs are fuel/air bombs. When they get to the target they first disperse a gas over a large area (I think with a small bursting charge) and then ignite the large cloud of highly volatile gas.
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