Highlights

Newsweek
Lockheed Martin’s specious approach to saving taxpayers defense dollars

Lockheed Martin’s announcing acquisition of Standard Aero’s employees
Lockheed Martin’s press release giving the appearance that it intends to save the U.S. Air Force money

Standard Aero’s theft allegations against Lockheed Martin
Standard Aero describes Lockheed's unethical, if not unlawful behavior

Texas Court findings
Judge issues order restraining Lockheed Martin from stealing Standard Aero’s propritary intellectual property











































































































































































































































Lockheed C-130 costs violate learning curve principal

W

hen Lockheed Martin built the C-130, it did not follow the classic learning curve concept that states that over time the unit cost of an item will decrease as the ability of the workers building it increases. According to the learning curve concept, material costs are fixed but through experience, the worker will produce more units during the same period of time.

Lockheed Martin produced approximately 300 C-130E between 1961 and 1964. During that time the unit cost of the C-130E (in 1998 dollars) dropped from an average of approximately $13 million per aircraft to around $6 million. In other words, the C-130E unit price obeyed the classic learning curve theory.

However, from 1964 to 1993, the C-130 unit cost increased almost 800 percent from its low of $11 million to $41 million. The model designation changed from C-130E to C-130H during this period. This cost increase raises the obvious question either the H model must be more capable or the increase is due to inflation. However, the difference between the two models is minimal and the cited costs are in constant 1998 dollars. By late 1998, the C-130H unit cost had increased to $66 million a copy.