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Comment by baybal2 | Hacker News Reader

> TWINSCAN NXE:3400C is probably the most expensive machine in the world.

Unfortunately no. A number of pieces of military hardware produced in bigger numbers will leave even that pricetag in the dust.

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Reminds me of when I saw the customs declaration they had to make for the Troll oil platform[1]. It was "a thing" made here in the country, and it was being transported out of the country, so of course they had to customs declare it...

The declaration essentially said "one oil platform, unpackaged".

There was a suitable tariff code for it, but the value of it was so great the electronic customs declaration system couldn't handle all the digits.

Instead they had to write the value as a free-text comment.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_A_platform

It's not wholly clear that aircraft carriers etc. should count as machines. What if we limit the definition to "something used to make other things"?

Most gigantic blast furnaces, or hydraulic instruments on record if you correct for inflation? Though, most things like these made little sense economically even back in the days they were built.

Like what?

Fighter jets, bombers, few missile systems, air defence systems, subs, and surface military ships... the list would be long.

B2 spirit costs more than its weight in gold, clocking in at close to a billion

3.17 billion in 2019 dollars, or 1.11 if you exclude the sunk costs.

That is absolutely incredible.

There are plenty aircraft models like B-2 Spirit, F-22 Raptor etc. that cost above $200 million.

Do aircraft carriers count in this context? They’re reasonably expensive to produce.

Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are being built at 13 billion a piece: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford-class_aircraft_...

> reasonably expensive

The USS Ford is said to cost around 13 billions. I wouldn't call that "reasonable" :)

https://usadefensenews.com/2020/11/13/meet-the-us-navys-13-b...

Haha, I know - I should have added a wink emoji after that statement.

The next Air Force One supposedly costs 4 billion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_One#VC-25B .

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