Somebody's Getting Ripped Off

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/15/congress-oks-deal-to-sell-reaper-drones-to-france/



Congress OKs deal to sell Reaper drones to France
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, July 15, 2013 17:16 EDT

Plans to sell US Reaper drones to France advanced Monday as Congress raised no objections to the contract, Pentagon officials said.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign military sales, had notified Congress on June 27 of the proposed contract, and lawmakers voiced no opposition during a 15-day review period.

“Congress did not propose any joint resolution of disapproval. The case can proceed to be offered,” Lorna Jons of the DSCA told AFP.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had announced on June 11 plans to buy 12 Reaper aircraft from the United States, a purchase worth about $874 million, or 670 million Euros.



unhappycamper comment: Now I'm confused. $874 million / 12 = $78.2 million a pop. Does the United States pay 'only' $16.9 million dollars per drone? Or is wikipedia lying about how much these things cost? (I'm betting on the latter.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-9

MQ-9 Reaper
Role Unmanned combat air vehicle
National origin United States
Manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
First flight 2 February 2001
Introduction 1 May 2007
Status In service
Primary users United States Air Force
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Royal Air Force
Aeronautica Militare
Number built 57
Program cost US$11.8 billion[1]
Unit cost US$16.9 million (flyaway cost, 2013)[2]
Developed from General Atomics MQ-1 Predator
Developed into General Atomics Avenger

[Victor_c3]

1. Interesting observation

I think you are right.

The only other possibility that I could think of is maybe the price also includes whatever ground control systems and infrastructure required to run these things. But I don't know. I'm just a dumb grunt.

[Scuba]

2. Thank you Congressional Democrats for standing up ... oh wait, never mind.