Current US military thinking on launch needs

George William Herbert wrote:

Will McLean wrote:

The CBC structure presumably takes more labor than a Delta II first stage,

Probably not. It's a lot bigger, but the whole thing is automatically
machined isogrids in a curved plate which is then friction stir welded
up to make the main tank, and it pretty much goes "zip".

I have no inside information on this, but my gut feel is that the marginal
cost of a Delta IV Medium is less than a Delta II. Boeing built a state-
of-the-art aerospace facility in Alabama to make the Delta IV, and it's
capable of kicking out fifty Common Booster Cores per year.

There's the rub -- they're currently only making two. The high price
reflects the 25x higher overhead cost per unit and the amortization of
Boeing's $2 billion investment in the program, not marginal cost.

Mike

-----
Michael Kent Apple II Forever!!
St. Peters, MO