Couldn't tell you, Mikey. I have no idea how many hours are involved in building a 100m+ Corvette, nor do I know the relative labor costs. Based on the Brits, shipbuilding costs appear to be pretty similar across all the developed nations, though. Cheaper if you go to Russia, India, or China, but who the heck outsources military projects to Russia or China?!?
The first hull of the Burke class cost ~$322mil, and had $778 USDmil in systems installed for a total cost of $1.1 USDbil (In 1985 dollars). Current hull costs appear to run abit more than double that, which is in line with inflation ($322 in 1985 dollars is $686 USD in 2013 dollars)
Burkes are do-everything boats, but a littoral-combat version would still need the ASW and self-protection gear, plus some kind of minesweeping capability.
In addition, the LCBurke would either need a full-capability Burke to provide anti-aircraft protection or have some pretty decent self-defense AA capability all by itself.
The littorals are nasty places to be, where even infantry-packed antitank missiles need to be considered as threats.
You have two choices if you are intentionally going into hostile littorals: build light and lose ships and crew (PT boats or missile-armed Fast Attack Craft), or build a beast that eats large chunks of your shipbuilding budget that can either take multiple hits and keep going or swat everything that comes it's way. Right now, the Burkes aren't quite at the level of "swatting everything".
I'd honestly look at making VLS-Harpoons and VLS-SLAMs (land-attack version of the Harpoon, which is steerable and retargetable in flight via datalink), stuff those into an early-flight Burke that's had minesweeping (or at least mine-detecting) gear added, since many of the later Burkes don't have all the ASW gear.
And then it's John Paul Jones time: "for I intend to go in harm's way."
decides on hills for his Team Yankee project.
