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?
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The planes and their spare parts are only produced in relatively small numbers so there are fewer volume cost benefits. Consider that only 195 F-22 airplanes have been produced compared to 1,735 Boeing 777s.
Using the same aircraft as a comparison. The F-22 will, on average, go through around 1,500 gallons per hour compared to 2,500 gallons for the 777. Now, of course, the F-22 is using less fuel but then it’s a lot smaller an aircraft and the fuel cost for civilian planes is paid for by the passengers.
Military planes also fly much less so the cost per flight hour is kind of skewed compared to civilian planes which airlines try to utilize as much as possible in order to remain profitable.
The standards and skills required for making literally *everything* in military equipment, vehicles, etc is MUCH higher than that of everyday items. Right down to the soldering on a wire harness, specs of each and every component on a circuit board, etc.
All of that, on top of the additional training anyone needs to work on those things the correct way, add up to quite a lot.
Source: I’ve worked in this field, making stuff for military, for most of my career in electronics.
Because everything on an aircraft has to approved for flight use as well. This means the testing is more expensive and as are the tolerances & materials.
Quick story time of when I used to work the line.
A new commander was appointed at the base. He used to fly tankers and wanted to take one out. Pilots like to maintain their flight hours to keep the incentive pay even after they transition into leadership role. Long story short, the pilot hit the deck so hard with the KC-135 the struts wrinkled. The plane’s landing gear was toast.
That 135 spent the next few months in the hangar in our hangar (we maintained a different bird) so we got to listen to those mechanics bitch about said pilot. The material costs, inspection (you have to inspect the entire air craft in a situation like this, so every panel came off to check for stress damage) time, and man hours had to be wild.
At the time, as a 20 year old working air craft, I thought it was so insane to be ordering over a million dollars worth of parts for one aircraft – and this was just for the equipment I worked on.
There is nothing inexpensive on an aircraft.
Have you ever seen a civilian work force line up on the flight line and walk across it to pick up every rock or piece of garbage? No! They buy equipment to do this which is significantly more effective and faster than the military’s process.
I once stood in such a line which included over 200 people. I did some quick math with some assumptions and estimated the 30 minute exercise cost $500k. They did it twice a week, minimum.
That was one process, not to mention that the military does not find the cheapest price on contracts, nor does it do anything efficiently.
I’ll add that the civilian airlines and airports are full of military people and their effectiveness practices bleed into this sector too. Just not as bad as the DOD.
Because people tend to think of their cars when determining how much they cost to operate and the numbers simply don’t make sense when applied to a plane.
Consider: if a tank of fuel costs around $100 (depending on make and model and currency and location of course) if you can drive 500 km over 5 hours that’s 100km per hour at $20 of fuel per hour.
Then figure about 20,000 gal/hour fuel consumption on an F-15 (not the maximum flow) and a NORMAL price of **$3.00/gal** of JP 5. That’s $60,000 for an hour of flight. * not my numbers – I don’t know the source, I’m a little shocked by these figures too.
Then consider that you didn’t figure in the cost of your *time* (give yourself a decent salary), your car, the oil, the maintenance, the time your car is just sitting in your driveway, the R&D, cost of manufacturing, etc into your $20 per hour, and you can kind of see how the costs balloon rapidly when you start to add all these things up.
Just the cost of fuel is probably half the cost of flight hours. A military jet, for instance an F-16 probably burns between 10,000 to 15,000 dollars worth of JP-5 Fuel per hour.
Cost breakdown (est) per hour
– fuel $4800 for 800 gal
– pilot $150 per hour incl all benefits
– $7500, cost per hour spread of 12k hours purchase price
– support crew $1500 per hour for mx work
– support contract w/ manufacturer $8000
– aircraft crew $1000
And many more costs.
We pay a lot to get the job done well.
Its not a commercial airline where delays are acceptable, lost baggage, layovers.
We want a plane ready to fly, to fly carry cargo to anywhere in the world, and for it to work 90+% of the time. If that plane isn’t ready there better be a back up plane and crew.
The president says, we want a forward operating base in X country. The generals say, we have plan Y we can execute. In a few hours everything needed to make that base happen will be in the air.
Doing the above costs money to be ready for.
IMO some extreme mission specific requirements AND a good dose of Crony capitalism that made these planes being built by the lowest bidder.
See all production issues and production line revisions on the F-35.
And the fact that the DoD can’t pass for shit a single Audit.
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