re interesting dc x cost anecdote in article may iti org aws iti org allen w sherzer wrote a staffer just told me an interesting story about dc x an air force costing team just looked at the dc x now called the dc x btw and gave an estimate on how much it would cost the air force to build it it cost sdio m to build and it would cost the usaf million or four and a half times as much i d be willing to bet that a majority of the cost difference could be accounted for by the af s requirement for superfluous documentation or huge requirements and design reviews travel expenses flying personnel around to meetings and over specifying the hardware i doubt that the actual fabrication cost in materials and labor would be very different from sdio s costs of course this is my cynical opinion based on years of watching the government procurement process try to cover up a lack of creativity and innovation with reams of documentation
