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

I suspect some of the shock comes from a lack of familiarity on your part with typical operating and maintenance expenses for ANY aircraft. Even the simplest Cessna 172 prop plane is EXPENSIVE to keep in a flyable condition. Jet engines run that number up A LOT more, and high performance jet engines even MORE so.

And that’s just for civilian aircraft that fly at low altitides low speeds, and don’t carry and advanced military avionics or weapons. Move up to a jet that can super cruise, carries the world’s most advanced radar systems, weapons systems, bleeding edge avionics, and fly at very high altitudes and handle like a Ferrari… It all adds up