Advanced Gun System range and production economics

The 155 mm, 62-caliber Mark 51 Advanced Gun System was not a late substitute for a failed railgun; it had been part of the design since 1996. Its long-range land-attack projectile was expected to reach about 83 nautical miles, with a debated rate of ten rounds per minute. That projected cost-effectiveness depended on buying roughly 64 guns and tens of thousands of rounds for a fleet of around thirty ships. Cutting the class to a handful concentrated development cost into very few weapons and projectiles. The apparent unit-price surge therefore followed from reduced quantity as much as from the technology itself.