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The $22.1 million contract will pay for the Excalibur rounds along with testing, manufacturing tooling, test equipment, training, and shipping and storage containers.
The Army expects about 150 to 200 Excalibur rounds to be provided under the initial contract, Cawood said.
When Excalibur production is scaled up by 2010, the munitions are expected to cost $30,000 each, compared with about $1,000 for an unguided artillery shell, Cawood said.
But that doesn't mean the Excalibur can't be cost-effective. One Army study showed it would take 147 shots with unguided shells to take out a target that could be dispatched with three Excalibur rounds, Cawood said.
While some critics have questioned the cost of guided projectiles, an analyst who is a frequent critic of military programs said the Excalibur's accuracy would make it worth the cost.
"It's an outstanding bullet," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank.
"The cost of the munition may be comparable to a satellite-guided bomb, but the cost of manning a firebase is a lot less than the cost of an air base," Pike said.
Babbling Brooks said:Thanks Petard. That's what I figured, but I didn't know for sure.
Now I just need to find out how much MACS costs so I can run a comparison between the cost of firing a conventional round with MACS and an Excalibur round. It's the incremental cost that counts, not the absolute number that Dawn Black and CTV are using to shock the general public.
Might I ask what is your motivation? Discredit the NDP? I don't think they need any help.