How much does an hour's flight cost on an F-35A? Exactly 42,169 dollars. In the fiscal year 2014, an hour of flight cost 67,550 net dollars. The air domination of the United States has a cost that any other country could not even dream of supporting.
These are the official Air Force US data for the 2015 fiscal year. As for the F-35, its cost could also fall in the coming years even if it is not clear if it will ever reach the 30 thousand dollars per hour of flight foreseen in the JSF planning phase. The most expensive USAF aircraft for US tax payers is the E-4 Nightwatch. It is part of the exclusive category of aircraft from Judgment Day and transports the president of the United States both in times of peace and in the event of disasters: it costs 149,580 dollars per hour of flight. It is almost certainly the most expensive aircraft in the world when operating. Such aerial platforms are able to coordinate the entire strategic inventory, communicate with all the armed forces and are specifically designed to withstand the effects of electromagnetic (EMP) and thermal nuclear explosion pulses.
The "doomsday planes" line is always pre-referenced, 24 hours on 24, both in Russia and in the United States. Contrary to what one might think, Americans and Russians have in service not one but two command aircraft (and two in reserve) always available at any time. The platform chosen by the White House is the E-4B. The Kremlin, on the other hand, is based on theIlyushin-86.
Built in twenty-one specimens (one lost in an accident in the 2008), the B-2 Spirit of Northrop Grumman have an individual cost per flight time of 128,805 dollars. The B-2 is the only low observability asset of the US aeronautics which is entrusted with the strategic projection. The Air Force will keep the B-2 in active service until the 2058. Even today, the backbone of the USAF is based on the long-range strategic bomber Boeing B-52, which made its first flight in the 1952. Of the 744 B-52 built, they remain in service only seventy-six, all updated to the configuration H. The B-52 was not designed to penetrate modern enemy defenses, but to transport long-range nuclear cruise missiles and bombardment in permissive environments. It costs 67,005 dollars per flight hour.
The entire Rockwell International B-1B supersonic line Lancer has been denuclearized, but is a platform capable of flying for ten hours without refueling and carries 84 bombs from 500 pounds (240 kg). Designed to bomb the Soviet Union it has become a troop support platform on the ground in Iraq. Requires an expense of 58,488 dollars per flight hour. Sixty B1-B bombers remain on the built 102.
The operational quota of the B-1 makes it less vulnerable than A-10. The latter was deployed in almost all the contexts that saw Americans involved. A-10 that even today are not used in offensive roles but in exclusive coverage. The A-10, however, has a cost per flight hour of just 17,227 dollars.
The F-22 Raptor, the best fighter on the planet and the only fifth generation operating platform, has a cost of 59,166 dollars per hour of flight. It was built in only 186 specimens, but only 123 are converted to combat. The rest of the fighters are classified as inventory machines, intended for testing or off-duty activities. To date, considering the current threats and contexts where the presence of a fifth generation platform is required, the Air Force would need at least 382 Raptor.
For air superiority, the USAF maintains both F-15 E (27,203) C / D (approximately 38 thousand) and F-16C / D fleets (on average 20 thousand dollars per flight hour).
Finally, the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender fleet costs 20,416 dollars per flight hour.
(photo: US DoD)
