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Fat Man and Little Boy would like to have a word with the F-35 about who was more expensive.

If you just count development costs, Wikipedia has the cost of the Manhattan project as $27 billion (adjusted dollars).

Wikipedia has the F-35 research, development, testing, and evaluation cost at $55.1 billion so far (and this doesn't include procurement, operation, etc.).

Only as percentage of GDP. In inflation adjusted dollars, US has surpassed it.

Which comparison is more meaningful? According to "Dark Sun", in 1945 the Manhattan Project was "approaching the US automobile industry in number of employees and capital investment." That comparison is utterly astounding; the fact that the F35 is more expensive but (I am guessing?) employs fewer people and has a seemingly smaller social impact is interesting.

Perhaps this is a sign of the increasing centralization of capital in the US?

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