A $16 million name change for JCA

[tigershark]

Does anybody have a rough price on what one of these cost? 

A $16 million name change for JCA
 By Roxana Tiron
Posted: 03/11/08 06:29 PM [ET]

After a year mired in controversy on the Hill and at the Pentagon, the Army and the Air Force have one more score to settle: how to designate the plane that will serve as the two services’ new Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA).

By Pentagon decree, the Air Force is the agency with the power to name and designate every aircraft in the military, including helicopters. U.S. military aircraft are given specific designations that identify their design and mission.  In the case of the JCA, the Air Force’s designation could end up costing $16 million — the price of being methodical and following the alphabet.   Last June, the Army and the Air Force picked the C-27 J Spartan — a plane made by Alenia , a unit of Italy’s Finmeccanica conglomerate — to become the Joint Cargo Aircraft.   The joint program is led by the Army, which wanted to buy an aircraft already commercially available and keep the name that the contractor had given the plane. The Army hoped that decision would save money as well as headaches for the contractor, because all the existing technical and operational manuals would stay the same.   But the Air Force, including its chief of staff, Gen. Michael Moseley, has been calling the aircraft the C-27 B, including in Hill testimony. That has created some confusion in the marketplace, according to an industry source, because the plane is known around the world as the C-27 J Spartan.   

Link to full story
http://thehill.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72027&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=32

[Webmaster]

Does anybody have a rough price on what one of these cost? 

About €30 million per piece on the Euro market, with self-defence suite and air refueling probe.

The JCA initial contract is for 78 aircraft at $2.04 Billion, so $26 million per piece. Total program value is estimated at $6 Billion for 207 aircraft total ($29 million per aircraft).

So let's say $45M per aircraft if you buy a couple, $30M per aircraft if you buy a lot.

May seems like a lot, but I think it's a good price for this plane.

For the comparison the C-130J costed the air force about $50M per piece, on the market it costs about $75M per piece.

[tigershark]

I agree seems like a good investment and I like the idea of the US Army higher ups requesting some already commercially available produced, nothing wrong with going with something simple.