Research and development costs have to be paid whether a programme produces a small or large number of ships. The Type 45 example starts with a programme cost of about £6 billion divided between six destroyers. In the illustrative calculation, another six ships at roughly £400 million each would have brought the total to £8.4 billion for twelve. That would reduce the average programme cost to about £700 million per destroyer. The broader argument is that increasingly complex development work is being spread across progressively smaller orders, making comparisons based on headline unit prices misleading.
Notable Point · 1:35:29-1:36:25
How a small order raises the apparent cost of each Type 45
A Type 45 cost illustration separates fixed development expenditure from the cost of buying additional ships.