How much money do fighter planes burn per flight hour?

The cost of flying a fighter jet is very complicated and extremely expensive, even so expensive that not every country can afford it. So what makes the cost of flying a fighter jet so high?

Price of fighter jets

Fighter planes are very expensive to build so their prices are also very high.

The US F-16 fighter jets that many countries choose to buy now cost about 20 million USD for the first model and the latest model costs about 90 million USD.

The F-22, America's most advanced fighter jet, costs nearly $200 million, not including research and development costs. It was so expensive that even the US couldn't afford it, so the production line was shut down after only 187 were produced.

China's latest J-20 fighter jet is also extremely expensive at more than 100 million USD.

Cost of flying a fighter jet

Calculating the flying cost of a fighter jet is complex and includes many costs such as labor costs, airframe costs, aviation fuel, replacement of parts and components, maintenance, and depreciation. Below are the three main costs of a fighter jet, other costs are also very expensive.

1. Aviation fuel costs

Typically, a twin-engine heavy fighter has a fuel load of about 5-10 tons, and the fuel consumption per flight hour is about 3 tons.

Based on fuel prices of about 14 million VND/ton, the cost of aviation fuel for each flight hour of a fighter plane is 42 million, and if it has an afterburner, it is about 84 million.

2. Maintenance costs

The maintenance costs for fighter jets are enormous.

For example, maintenance of the US F-22 fighter jet includes many stages such as overhaul, electrical/environmental control system, ammunition, hydraulics and pneumatics, power unit, fuel, life support equipment, metal materials, avionics, structural equipment and ground support equipment… About 15 maintenance staff are needed to perform these tasks.

Along with that, the cost of parts and components for each system that needs to be replaced is not cheap, such as the large F-119 engine which costs about more than 20 million USD.

Each flight hour of the F-22 requires up to 30 hours of maintenance, making the cost for that flight hour up to nearly 50,000 USD.

3. Depreciation costs

On average, a fighter jet has a lifespan of 20 years.

The F-22 costs about $200 million. The annual depreciation cost of this fighter is up to $10 million.

How much money do fighter planes burn per flight hour?

The US F16 fighter jet has a fuel capacity of nearly 4,000 liters, a maximum range of 4,200 km, and a speed of 2,000 km/h. The flight cost of the F16 fighter jet is about 973 million per hour.

The F-35 fighter jet has an hourly flight cost of nearly 1.042 billion VND in Vietnamese currency.

The Russian Su-35 fighter has an effective range of 3,600 km, can fly for 3.6 hours at subsonic speed, and costs about 1.042 billion VND per hour.

The B-2 stealth bomber costs $130,159 an hour.

The E-4 command aircraft's hourly flying cost is a staggering $159,529.

Samuel Daniel

Update 15 December 2024