Why is it so expensive to fly and maintain military aircraft?

Question

I just so some numbers like 20-35K dollars per flight hour for some fighters and that seems ridiculous, anyone know what costs so much?

In: Other

Answer 1

Most commercial planes (airliners, cargo planes, etc.) are designed for efficiency and longevity. They’re built to optimize the number of miles per dollar spent on overhead (maintenance, fuel, etc.). Military aircraft tend to be designed for optimal performance in their role, and have less of an incentive to chase profit margins by reducing operating costs. They have more expensive and more frequent maintenance cycles because that’s considered an acceptable tradeoff for high performance.