Drift

RQ-4 Global Hawk

RQ-4 · Air Force · Northrop Grumman · truncated

+81% $5.5B (2001) → $10.0B (2012)
RQ-4 Global Hawk: cost trajectory from $5.5B in 2001 to $10.0B in 2012, +81% growth. Explore RQ-4 interactively → Download 1-page brief (PDF)
Baseline
$5.5B (2001)
Current estimate
$10.0B (2012)
Cost growth
+81%
Units
63 → 45
Quantity change
−29%
Unit-cost change
+153%
IOC
planned 55-month cycle → 2011 (Block 30)
Schedule slip
—
Cost basis
BY
Confidence
high · reconciled
Unit cost rose 153%, tripping a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach in 2011 — so the buy fell from 63 (briefly 77) to 45 and the Air Force tried to retire the newest Block 30s the following year. The total still ended 81% over the 2001 estimate, for 18 fewer aircraft.

Documented events

Source: GAO-13-294SP, RQ-4A/B assessment pp.113-114 — Program Performance table, constant FY2013 $M: first full estimate 03/2001 $5,548.9M / 63 aircraft vs latest 08/2012 $10,021.0M / 45; PAUC +152.8%; cycle 55 → 125 months. GAO-12-400SP pp.77-78: April 2011 critical Nunn-McCurdy breach reported to Congress; restructure 77 → 55; Jan 2012 Block 30 termination plan.

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Drift — an independent project by Aous Abdo · Analytica DSS, built from public GAO, CRS and DoD sources. Cost growth has many causes; a larger number is not by itself evidence of mismanagement. How this is built · Explore the data →