Why split a Military Air Transport Case quote into six blocks?

Answer: Material and moulding hold 49 percent and follow wall and machine rate; hardware and foam hold the negotiable 27 percent.

Must tooling be prepaid?

Answer: No. Fold it into the piece price or credit it against volume; below 300 pieces, folding is easier on cash.

Can I order only 100 pieces?

Answer: Yes, with the case mould untouched: a 3,200 die and 6 to 9 percent added. A new shape needs the 500-piece tier.

How do AQL 1.0 and 2.5 differ?

Answer: On 80 pieces, 1.0 accepts 2 and rejects at 3, while 2.5 accepts 5 and rejects at 6.

How should late delivery be worded?

Answer: 0.3 percent per day to a 5 percent cap, claims in writing within 15 days.

Buying a Military Air Transport Case: Quotes, MOQ and Lead Time

Quick answer: A Military Air Transport Case quote should split into material, moulding, hardware, foam, assembly and tooling. MOQ follows the tooling in tiers of 100, 300 and 500 pieces, with lead time running from drawing to production.

What a Military Air Transport Case Quote Contains
How Tooling Amortisation Enters the Unit Price
Three MOQ Tiers
Sampling and Production Lead Times
AQL Inspection Payment and Claims
FAQ

1. What a Military Air Transport Case Quote Contains

Ask how many blocks the quote splits into. A single total price leaves later changes to guesswork. Six blocks work: material, moulding hours, hardware, foam and die, assembly, tooling, with overhead and margin on a seventh line.

Cost block	Share	Lever
Material	31%	Net weight and scrap, set by wall
Moulding hours	18%	Machine rate, parts per cycle
Hardware	12%	Latch, handle and valve count
Foam and die	15%	Density, number of pockets
Assembly and packing	9%	Labour minutes, carton size
Tooling	6%	Order quantity

Material is 31 percent but tracks wall thickness, so pressure there removes plastic. Hardware and foam hold the negotiable 27 percent. A 500-piece quote should show a 15.2 kg body, 8 percent scrap, eight M8 inserts, four latch sets and one valve line by line.

2. How Tooling Amortisation Enters the Unit Price

An aluminium mould for a Military Air Transport Case costs 86,000 and lasts about 30,000 cycles, so it costs 172 per case over 500 pieces and 43 over 2,000. Same mould, same drawing, 129 apart, all in the spreading method.

Military air transport case: four olive green cases on a workshop conveyor, handles and latches visible, one open case on a pallet with grey foam

Name the method in the contract: paid outright, folded into the unit price, or prepaid with 50 percent credited after 500 pieces. Colour and foam change without touching the mould, for a sampling fee; ribs, outer shape or wall mean a new mould and another 86,000.

3. Three MOQ Tiers

Minimum order quantity follows the tooling rather than the sales script.

Tier	MOQ	Tooling	Effect on price
Colour and foam	100	Foam die 3,200	Up 6 to 9 percent
New foam layout	300	Die and hardware changes	Up 3 to 5 percent
New case mould	500	Mould 86,000	172 amortised per piece

At 100 pieces the mould stays and only colour and foam change, the shortest route. At 300 pieces foam pockets and hardware are rebuilt. Only at 500 can the outer shape change, and the tooling charge has to be creditable. Hidden costs follow: a purge with 20 transition parts at the low tier, a pull-out test at the middle.

4. Sampling and Production Lead Times

Lead time is agreed stage by stage, never as one number.

Stage	Days	Precondition
Drawing confirmation	3	Cavity and tolerance frozen
Mould building	25	Tooling paid, 3D signed
T1 sample	12	Two trials, dimensional report
Production, 500 pcs	35	Sample and colour panel signed

A machine cycling every 45 minutes at two cases yields about 53 pieces in 20 effective hours, so 500 pieces occupy it for 10 days; with changeover and scheduling, 35 days is realistic, and 1,000 pieces take 42.

5. AQL Inspection Payment and Claims

Inspection of a Military Air Transport Case follows GB/T 2828.1 at level II: a lot of 501 to 1,200 draws 80 pieces, with zero critical defects, major AQL 1.0 (Ac 2, Re 3) and minor AQL 2.5 (Ac 5, Re 6).

Item	Method	Criterion
Outer dimensions	Tape, three readings	±3.0 mm
Latch effort	Push-pull gauge	60 to 90 N
Seal compression	Feeler and caliper	22 to 28 percent
Colour difference	Spectrophotometer	ΔE within 1.5

Payment runs 30 percent deposit and 70 percent against a bill of lading copy. Claims: appearance defects at 1.5 times unit price, functional defects replaced batch for batch with freight on the seller, late delivery 0.3 percent per day to a 5 percent cap, warranty 12 months from receipt.

Conclusion

Buying a Military Air Transport Case comes down to three tables: the cost split, the tooling behind each MOQ tier, and the milestones linking lead time to inspection. The first two decide what can be checked, the third who pays when delivery slips. Put all three in the contract annex, and quotes, minimums and lead times stop being verbal, which is where a Military Air Transport Case purchase should start.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.