Biggus,
If there were only going to be 9 x P-8's ordered, then you would be right. However, knowing there would be at the very least, 120 aircraft built, then worst case would be:
120 x $275m = $33Bn
plus R&D cost of $8Bn
= $41Bn for 120 aircraft
or $341m per aircraft = £214m per aircraft which is less than half of what each MRA4 would cost.
Bottom line is that we can play around with figures in many ways. The reality is that Boeing agreed a cost and delivery programme with the US DoD that was (or is being) achieved. On that very basis alone, the programme should be seen as a model for success.
Conversely, both AEW3 and MRA4 should be seen as models for absolute, utter and total failure, with the single exception that an RAF team of specialists based at Warton was probably a good idea!
