ASWF costs and the price of a short production run

A small warship order spreads research and development costs across few hulls. The Type 45 comparison uses a £6 billion programme for six destroyers to explain the billion-pound-per-ship label. A hypothetical £8.4 billion programme for twelve would average about £700 million each by spreading development expenditure across more hulls. ASWF is described as a roughly 6,650-ton design whose planned order has expanded towards four Dutch and three Belgian ships. The quoted initial four-ship programme cost is €4 billion, against more recent reports of roughly €2.5 billion per Dutch vessel and €1 billion per Belgian vessel. Those figures are explicitly variable, with the last official cost update identified as 2023. Subsidy between partners or differences in survivability are offered as possible explanations, without resolving the discrepancy.