In 1991 the Air Force awarded a $93 billion (or more) contract to a group led by Lockheed, Boeing, and General Dynamics to build the new fighter plane for the 21st century, the YF-22 Lightning 2. A group headed by Northrop and McDonnell Douglas, which had spent more than $1 billion on development for their alternative YF-23, lost out on the contract. That evening on CNN's Crossfire, the Secretary of Defense explained that the Lockheed group got the contract because their "quality for the price per plane was higher." He didn't elaborate. Did he mean Lockheed quality was higher? or Did he mean the Lockheed price was lower? If neither, what did he mean?
1 answer
I assume he meant that Lockheed's quality was higher, considering the planes' dollar-for-dollar price.