How much does the F-35 Joint Strike fighter cost?
How Much Does It Cost? The F-35’s price per unit, including ancillary costs like depot maintenance, ground support equipment, and spare parts is $110.3 million per F-35A, $135.8 million per F-35B, and $117.3 million per F-35C.
What was the competitor to the F-35?
The F-35 was selected from a field of competitors that included Eurofighter, the Dassault Rafale and the current supplier for the Swiss Air Force, Boeing, which bid the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Why is the F-35 so expensive?
Why has the F-35 become so expensive? The reason for it to be so tremendously expensive originates in a smart idea that the US officials came up with, that mass production always costs less.
Which countries use F-35?
The Global F-35 Enterprise There are eight international program partners — the U.S., United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada. Six Foreign Military Sales customers are also procuring and operating the F-35 — Israel, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Belgium and Singapore.
Is the F-35 viable?
A pair of F-35s can strike multiple targets in a contested environment with no support save, perhaps, a tanker. To get two conventional fighter jets to a similarly contested target requires 10 to 20 additional aircraft. No economic argument against the F-35 is viable without that calculus.
How much more does it cost to operate the F-35?
The F-35 costs up to 50 percent more to operate than the Pentagon would like. By 2036, the Pentagon could spend $6 billion more per year than it already plans to just to keep the F-35 fleet running.
Does the F-35 share 20 percent of its parts?
The supposed cost-savings of doing so with the F-35 proved illusory, as the three models only ended up sharing 20 percent of their parts in common. The result was a Franken-plane that posed problems for all parties involved.
Is the Air Force’s F-35 bill too high?
At this very moment, F-35 fleets are receiving a projected $16 billion upgrade to software and other components that’s already two years behind schedule and $1.5 billion over budget. All these developments apparently have the Air Force coming around to the idea that the bill for using the F-35 for routine tasks is just too high.
Is the Pentagon spending $6 billion more on the F-35 each year?
By 2036, the Pentagon could spend $6 billion more per year than it already plans to just to keep the F-35 fleet running. The U.S. government’s premier watchdog agency warns the Pentagon is on track to burn through billions of bonus dollars to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.