How much does it cost to maintain an F 35?

The F-35 program is expected to cost taxpayers a total of $1.7 trillion across its lifecycle, according to the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office’s 2020 estimate.

How much does it cost to operate an F 35 per hour?

At $33,000 per flight hour, F-35A only costs $10,000 more to operate than the much more mature F-16, a fighter that offers a fraction of the wartime effectiveness. F-35A is already in the range of most F-15 fighters in the fleet, which vary in cost per flight hour from $29,000 to $38,000.

How much does it cost to maintain an F 16?

The F-16, the workhorse of the Air Force, has hourly operating costs of around $8,000. A US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft manuoevers near a mountain during the joint US…

How much does it cost to fly an F-22 per hour?

The flight cost per hour for an F-22 is roughly $60,000. With a price tag that high and no immediate threat in the open skies that require the most dominant fighter jet in the world, the U.S. Military needed to come up with a more viable, less expensive long-term solution.

How much do F 22 fighters cost?

The F-22 Cost Is Astronomical The cost of one aircraft alone is an estimated $334 million which includes research and development (unit cost of $150 million). The Air Force originally wanted 700 F-22s to be produced but had to cancel production just shy of 200 because they were already over-budget.

How much will the F-35 really cost the Air Force?

According to the GAO, since 2012 the expected lifetime sustainment costs of the F-35 fleet have increased over $150 billion from $1.1 to $1.27 trillion. And by 2036 this means the F-35 fleet will be costing the Air Force $4.4 billion more annually to operate than it can afford, unless it can reduce sustainment costs nearly by half.

Is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter unaffordable?

Projected sustainment costs for the F-35 joint strike fighter are unaffordable, and the problem will only get worse if no further action is taken, the Government Accountability Office warned in a new report released July 7.

Are F-35’s mission capable?

“F-35 mission capable rates — a measure of the readiness of an aircraft fleet — have recently improved, but still fall short of warfighter requirements,” according to the report.

Will F-35 development costs be made back by economies of scale?

Lockheed-Martin’s LMT -1\% F-35 stealth jet has remained a lightning rod for controversy, but its advocates can point to the jet’s steadily declining unit price in the last six years—down to $78 million per land-based F-35A — as evidence that its costly and protracted development will be made back by economies of scale as it enters service.