Look at the cost of a Tico!!! This ship makes sense for this day in age - to do more with less. And, unlike the German Navy, you can guarantee America will buy the modules. The Germans rely on the Americans anyway for support in wartime so they see it of little value to buy them.
This ship makes sense for this day in age. It is a stealth design as well - radar sig is minimal. Sound sig is minimal. Even IR sig is reduced.
$600 mil is cheap to a single Tico. A Tico takes $50 mil per year approx to simply operate too ($28 mil in 1996 $)
-S
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