Originally Posted by A1Bill
Australia actually came pretty close to estimating the f-35 cost at $75M from past experience.
Price/Unit Cost:
The unit cost of the F-35A is $112.50 million (recurring cost) or $129.06 million including non-recurring (flyaway cost) in FY 2015. The airframe costs $74.41 million, the F135-PW-100 engine costs $13.75 million, the avionics cost $22.14 million, while non-recurring and other costs make up the remaining $18.76 million.
Not very close to $75M. As for projected costs, they've been getting those wrong for years, so I'll believe those when I see them.