sexta-feira, 8 de janeiro de 2010

Brazilian Air Force - Estimating the Real Cost of Modern Fighter Aircraft


F-18

GRIPEN NG

RAFALE


PORTUGUÊS ENGLISH

Estimando o Custo Real de Aeronave Caça Moderno

Este relatório é intencionado a fornecer uma base objetiva para estimar os custos verdadeiros de aeronave de combate pelos seus compradores domésticos, num tempo quando fabricantes, travados* em implacável crescente competição no mercado de exportação, rotineiramente inflacionam o custo de aeronaves competidoras enquanto fazem demonstrativamente reivindicações enganosas acerca de seu próprio produto.

* com dados guardados a sete chaves.

A meta não é acuradamente fixar preços reais de aeronave, mas fornecer estimativa geral e uma massa de dados e fontes que leitores possam usar para calcular seu próprio preço, dependendo de suas necessidades, pela estrutura dos elementos fornecidos neste estudo.

A média de Custo Unitário de Aquisição por Licitação de aeronave caça produzida na área da NATO [Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte] é de $112.43 milhões, e varia numa razão de quase 3 por 1 de $62.1 milhões para um Dassault Rafale C a $177.6 milhões para um Lockheed F-22A. Três aeronaves têm um Custo Unitário de Aquisição por Licitação em torno de $70 milhões, e outras três custam por volta de $110 milhões.


Quando os custos totais de pesquisa e desenvolvimento são acrescentados, entretanto, o quadro fica muito diferente, quando a média do Custo Unitário do Programa eleva-se para $148.7 milhões. Nesta base, somente duas aeronaves custam menos que $100 milhões, uma outra custa $112 milhões, e dois (Caça europeu e Rafale) custam em torno de $338.8 milhões.


Estes números podem parecer surpreendentes, especialmente quando eles indicam que o Rafale custa menos que o Gripen, ainda que eles reflitam o real preço pago por estes caças por *clientes domésticos. 
Opta-se desconsiderar outros preços, tais como aqueles oferecidos em competições de exportação, baseado no que eles são em grande quantidade pelas considerações comerciais, enquanto preços pagos pelo cliente doméstico mais acuradamente reflete o custo real de desenvolvimento e licitação de aeronave de combate.
*Clientes Domésticos, são aqueles dentro de um grupo de paises signatários de acordos multilaterais.

 Mais intrigante é a tentativa conclusão de que, preços de aeronave (ou custos para os governos), como daqueles outros produtos manufaturados, são determinados tanto pelo quanto o mercado pode suportar quanto pelo seus desenvolvimentos reais e custos de produção (veja Tabelas 2, 3).

A conclusão está na Tabela 4.

Aeronave de combate classificada pelos Custos Unitários de Produção

Aeronave classificada pelo custo por quilograma
custo unitário do programa dividido pele Peso Vazio
(Tabela 2 abaixo)








ENGLISH
AIRCRAFT COSTS BY PROGRAM

This section examines cost information available for each aircraft, lists the most recent cost estimates by source, and selects for each the most credible Program Unit Costs (total program cost divided by the number of production aircraft) and Unit Procurement Cost (value of latest production contract divided by the number of aircraft).



1 . Dassault Aviation RAFALE

Program Unit Cost : $ 135.8 million (Rafale C air force single-seat aircraft)

Unit Procurement Cost : $ 62.1 million

Manufacturer’s comment:

Dassault noted that prices quoted in French defense budget documents are inclusive of valueadded tax (VAT) at 19.6%. If *VAT, which is not applicable on export contracts, is excluded, the total cost of the Rafale program drops to 27.82 billion euros, and the average program unit cost is reduced to 94.63 million euros.
*V.A.T = A tax on the estimated market value added to a product or material at each stage of its manufacture or distribution, ultimately passed on to the consumer.

Again excluding VAT, the prices of the various versions are 47.3 million euros for the Rafale M, 41.5 million euros for the Rafale C and 43.3 million euros for the Rafale B.

These figures are all at January 2005 prices, Dassault says.

Cost data and sources:

- Total cost (R&D plus production) of the Rafale program was estimated in October 2005 by a French Parliamentary report at 33.27 billion euros for 294 aircraft (234 for the French air force and 60 Rafale Ms for the French navy. This implies an average program unit price of 113.17 million euros.

- Total program cost for the Rafale M naval program are estimated at 7.27 billion euros, or 121.4 million euros per aircraft. (2)

- Unit procurement costs were estimated by the French Parliament during the debate on the 2006 defense budget at 56.6 million euros for the naval Rafale M, 49.6 million euros for the single-seat and 51.8 million euros for the two-seat Rafale C air force versions (at January 2005 prices). (3)

- The most recent production contract, awarded in 2004, covers 59 Rafale F3 aircraft and was valued at 3.11 billion euros, or approximately 52.77 euros par aircraft. (1)

- The latest figures published in June 2006 by French MoD put the total cost of the program, including development, pre-production, production and integrated logistical support, at 33,273 million euros for 294 aircraft (including value-added tax, at 2003 prices).

Unit procurement prices vary between 45 million euros and 50 million euros (excluding VAT), depending on the versions.

Sources:

(1) Commission de la Défense Nationale et des Forces Armées, Rapport sur le Projet de loi de finances pour 2006 ; N° 2572, Tome VIII : Défense : Equipement des Forces, By Jerome Rivière; dated October 12, 2005, see page 11 et sq.
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/portal_repository/206537047__0001/fichier/getData
(2) Commission de la Défense Nationale et des Forces Armées, Rapport sur le Projet de loi de finances pour 2006 ; N° 2572, Tome V: Défense: Préparation des Forces: Marine By Philippe Vitel, dated October 12, 2005, see page 22
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/portal_repository/1536638127__0001/fichier/getData
(3) Commission des Finances, de l’Economie Générale et du Plan, Rapport sur le Projet de Loi de finances pour 2006 (n° 2540), By Gilles Carrez, Rapporteur Général ; See page 131 et sq.
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/portal_repository/1898695565__0001/fichier/getData



2. Saab-BAE Systems JAS-39 GRIPEN

Program Unit Cost : $ 76.07 million

Unit Procurement Cost: $ 68.90 million ($55.1 million excluding VAT)

Manufacturer’s comment:

Gripen International AB says “the fly-away cost of a Gripen in the market is between $35 million and $40 million.”

Background to cost data and sources:

- Gripen is now in advanced production, and the only available program cost estimates, including a 1996 Court of Audit report, are outdated, while the Swedish Parliament has not publicly debated the program’s cost for several years. Consequently, another approach was needed. This demonstrated the limits of Sweden’s much-vaunted transparency in government affairs.

Estimating Gripen costs:

(a) The Swedish defence material agency, FMV, says the total cost of the Gripen program between 1982 and 2009 is 99 billion Swedish krona (worth $ 13.54 billion at current exchange rates), including weapons and simulators but excluding Value-Added Tax, for 204 aircraft.

We converted this 99 billion krona figure to 2006 prices based on the 14% increase in Sweden’s Consumer Price Index between 1994, the program’s mid-point, and 2006. (CPI Index increased from 245 points in January 1994 to 279 points in January 2006, see Swedish Statistics agency,
http://www.scb.se/templates/tableOrChart____33848.asp )

This brings the program’s estimated total cost to 112.8 billion krona at 2006 prices.

We then deducted the cost of simulators and weapons by applying a 20% discount to the 112.8 billion krona program cost, and added 25% value-added tax.

The resulting Program Unit Cost is $ 76.07 million per aircraft.

(b) Both FMV and the office of the Swedish Minister of Defence declined to provide the value of the latest Gripen production contract (awarded in June 1997), covering the 64 aircraft of Batch 3, claiming commercial confidence.

Consequently, we extrapolated Gripen’s Unit Acquisition Price from the Swedish offer to Poland (November 2002), which was made public at the time and remains the most recent price figure available.

This offer was worth 3,150 million euros ($ 3,780 million) for 48 aircraft, from which we deducted 30% for the cost of spare parts and support equipment, and added 25% value-added tax to bring it in line with our tax-inclusive benchmark.

The resulting estimate of Gripen’s Unit Procurement Cost is $68.9 million.




  3. Boeing F/A-18E SUPER HORNET

Program Unit Cost : $ 95.3 million

Unit Procurement Cost: $ 78.4 million

Manufacturer’s comment:

In response to our query, Boeing said that “the fly-away cost of the Super Hornet, under the current, second multi-year procurement contract with the U.S. Navy, is $53.8 million.”

Cost data and sources:

- Unit fly-away cost of the F-18E, as included in the US Navy FY07 budget request, is $78.4 million per aircraft. (4)

- In the latest DOD Selected Acquisition Reports (Dec. 31, 2005), the total program cost for the 462 planned F-18E Super Hornets is set at $44.03 billion, putting the Program Unit Cost at $95.3 million per aircraft. (5)

Sources:

(4) US Navy FY07 budget request, F-18E page
http://public.secnav.navy.mil/FY07.nsf/($reload)/8525711F000FDA09852570F200669A35/$FILE/145+FA-18EF.pdf
(5) SAR Program Acquisition Cost Summary (Dec. 31, 2005)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2006/d20060407sars.pdf

FONTE: defense-aerospace.com

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