Originally Posted by
ORAC
A one off mind you - with the expected flying hours and engine life, once mounted they’re expected to stay on the aircraft wings until they leave service.
No doubt that will be taken into account in the bid prices. In the commercial world, it's pretty common that the engine companies sell the engines for new aircraft at (or very near) cost - or even at a slight loss. The profit is in the maintenance and parts - engines will fly 3,000 to 4,000 hrs./year and do that for ~ 60,000 to 100,000 hrs. That's a lot of maintenance and spare parts.
So the per engine prices for the B-52 re-engine would be correspondingly higher than the commercial market.
No doubt some congressional critics will see the difference in prices and make a big stink about how the company is ripping off the government...