That may be a little high. UAVTek's site says they beat the FLIR Black Hornet 3 bid[1]. Estimates based on US Army budget requests say the Black Hornet 3 is coming in between $15k and $16k per unit[2]. Probably still 5 figures though.
In addition you have to think of the trade-offs. If the army multiplied the price by 10 to get 10% better performance, that might save a soldier’s life.
Hmm, shades of Kipling‘s Frontier Arithmetic: “four thousand pounds of education/Drops to a ten-rupee jezail”....
That’s based on the value of the whole contract, which will include the costs of participating in trials, demonstrations, training, lifetime service and spare parts. There are likely to be a whole team of personnel dedicated full time to the contract for years, all included.
Hmm, shades of Kipling‘s Frontier Arithmetic: “four thousand pounds of education/Drops to a ten-rupee jezail”....