Donohue George L. Star wars: a case study of marginal cost analysis and weapon system technology

RAND Corp., Santa Monica, CA, 1994. — 54 p.Marginal-cost analysis can help decisionmakers formulate both de- fense strategy and technical investment strategy early in the development of a major weapon system. The purpose of this report is to provide a case study that illustrates this point. The case involves a marginal-cost analysis of system architectures for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Although the application is now somewhat dated, the nature, results, and effects of the study illustrate how critical such systems analysis is for comprehensive policy analysis in considering any weapon system for which there is a likely counter.