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Old 08-02-2020, 11:01 AM   #51
philipswanson
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Bonita, CA
Posts: 1,374
Default Re: Drake 40 dlx headlamp rims (bezels)

[QUOTE=JSeery;1915809]I have been directly involved in a lot of this. Lets take a hammer as an example. You see one in a store and it has a mass production price. Now the government decides to order say 100 hammers built to a specific requirement (may not really matter, but that is the way they operate).

First you get a request for the item. Then it has to be reviewed and negotiated.

This was much worse than that. The hammer, the ash trays and toilet seats were actually made by the government, for the government (Navy) at North Island Naval Air Rework Facility. It's much more expensive when the government makes these things internally. There are even more steps and expense than buying it on contracts or open purchase. When the government can manufacture itself, it should only be done when the part can't be obtained in private industry. That often happens when rebuilding 30 year old aircraft but common sense dictates not for toilet seats, ash trays and hammers.
They make things, at great expense, all the time but only for items which can't be had any other way and are flight critical.
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