Here's another gem from that recent study on the defense industrial base -- or rather the prospective lack of it -- by the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Instead of tracing weapons' cost growth over time, the folks at CSBA have simply divided each warbird's fly-away cost (the cost of the plane, minus R&D and assorted other expenses) by how much it weighs, to come up with its cost-per-pound in today's dollars. "Cost-per-pound may better capture the increasing information and electronic content (computers, software, navigation equipment, displays, sensors, electronic countermeasures and so forth) of modern weapon systems," the study says. (That, of course, explains why a new iPhone costs $1.2 billion.) Surprise: the newest planes are the most costly, even after wringing out inflation's impact.
"The defense industrial base is not a free market," Todd Harrison of CSBA notes, when asked to explain why the cost of complicated consumer electronics continues to plummet while the price of warplanes keeps escalating. "The normal market forces that drive down prices don't exist in defense."