$40K for an $8 knob? The case for a military right to repair

uberman

I know at first blush these 10k for a hammer and 40k for a knob charges seem outrageous but what you don't see if you just look at these charges is the other side of the equation where you fix bid a project and then the three letter agency you are working with changes the requirements mid-project. You have to make the change and they are bound by funds appropriated and you have to deliver. The way this works out a good number of times is on the back end when you work together in a next phase to bill a 10k custom hammer as part of a maintenance and support contract . The reality is not that the hammer costs 10k but as a contractor you are being compensated for 10k of out of scope work you had to do in a prior phase. Again this is almost certainly not about right to repair and more about fix the way these projects are budgeted and scoped. Just my two cents here.

ungreased0675

It’s very easy to throw rocks at the greedy contractors, but I think the military is almost completely responsible for these costs. The acquisitions and contracting offices create these unfavorable deals, usually because of risk aversion and ignorance. It’s also not fair to buy a thing for a cheaper price because the IP rights aren’t included, then try to cut out the IP holder when things need fixing. The company bid a low initial price betting they would get additional revenue on spare parts and change orders later. Finally, the military has incredible leverage at the start of a program that they could use better. Companies will include IP rights if the alternative is not getting a contract at all. Once the piece of equipment is fielded, leverage returns to the company.

timnetworks

surely there are some extra knobs at the original knob factory and 3d printers have nothing to do with it.

dlcarrier

The military doesn't pay for quality, they pay for compliance. When you wrap everything in rules about rules, you end up paying $5 for a part and $95 for paperwork.

hakfoo

Why don't we just have a captive, state-owned military-industrial complex? The idea of having private firms try to build their interpretation of what the Army or Air Force wants seems redundant and inefficient. And then you have to bury the cost of failed designs in the contracts you do win, or sell them designs to other countries that end up using them against us after a couple coups.