@Six-Gun Cost matters nothing. I'm a mechanic in the USMC and you should see the prices of some of the worthless <deleted> that gets put on vics. $763 for a SINGLE nut for a MPU to go into on a generator.... $763 !!!
Right - but that's $763 vs. the cost of doing business. They will pay what they must to have what they must, but they ALWAYS bid it out against someone else to see if they can get it cheaper. That's why the bids also include the cost of logistics support/depot maintenance in addition to the per item costing, as demonstrated in the article quote I quoted above ("...Any potential contractor was also required to provide relative background information on their capabilities to provide contractor logistics support for depot level maintenance of the entire upgraded weapon system.") They have to factor that $763 nut into what the program to operate it will cost and how many of said nuts they can roughly expect to need over a period time. If they can get the same thing cheaper, they will, hence the term "always remember that your weapon was built by the lowest bidder." Yes, the soldier must have a gun, but it won't be the most expensive one.
In in Air Force example, a jet engine may run, say (at a random guess number), $14 million. When you look at what it it is, it's not much more than a metal tube, some fuel line, an ignition system, and a bunch of metal blades. Regardless, the Air Force has to have it to complete the mission and the contractor building it isn't going to hold back on the engie or it's replacement part costs when they spent millions upon million of dollars to develop that engine. However, if they finder a cheaper or, better still, cheaper AND more efficient builder or part to replace it, they will.
EDIT: As an aside...I really wanted to spare you guys this, but I feel obliged to post it. You wanna know what it takes to get something bought by your Department of Defense? Here's the process flow chart. Make sure you zoom and get ready for your eyes to bleed. Remember, this is not a joke. These are the actual wickets a
new design has to conquer to get bought by the DoD. The good news for this rifle is that it's a Non-developmental item Acquisition, so it can skip some of this business, but not all of it. Regardless, it gives you a better understanding of why a contractor has to charge so much to get their money back on design development and why it costs a fortune for the US government to acquire anything:
http://spacese.spacegrant.org/uploads/Project Life Cycle/DAU_wallChart.pdf