America’s armed forces are known for their expensive weapons programs. But even they have a limit writes Sean Gallagher:

• Since the Gulf War the Navy hasn’t had boats that can pound enemy land positions to make way for a rush of Marines.
• The USS Zumwalt was meant to rectify that. The first of what was meant to be 24 boats was deployed last month.
• However due to the expense of the program that was cut down to just three ships.
• And since the manufacturer can no longer take advantage of economies of scale, each projectile – from a gun that fires them at the rate of ten a minute – is now expected to cost $800,000.
• In contrast America has a nuclear missile that costs just $1 million to shoot. And other guided rounds cost as little as $70,000 a shot.
• The warships won’t go to waste. The guns can probably be retrofitted with different, cheaper projectiles, though they’ll be far less accurate.

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