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osamanobama on 29 February 2012
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Badassbab said:
osamanobama said:
Marks said:
So they're about $14-15 trillion in debt but they can afford another trillion on new planes? Holy shit that's messed up dude.


it will cost $1 trillion to buy 2,500 jets, fly them, maintain them, etc over 50 years.

really not that much when you think about it, these planes will be viable for 50 years, before they need a major successor.

each Jet costs roughly 122million to make currently.

also the F-35, is set to replace the F-16, A-10, and the F/A-18, and others so again we will be decomishoning many of our older fleets (which saves money), and started this program in its place.

and if you think about it, these are a hell of a lot cheaper than our B-2 bombers, which cost like $800million to make each (we only have like 20 of these).

of course this is a completely different type of plane. with completely different objectives.

Viable for 50 years? I highly doubt that. The current fleet of 4th gen fighter A/S and Strike jet's lifespan is around 30 years but have been kept in service longer due to F-35 delays and this has resulted in numerous accidents due to the age of the aircrafts. Even if we take the highly dubious claim of 50 year lifespan into account(that's a long time by which time it will be quite obsolete) your looking at an average cost of $20 billion a year in 2012 money to buy and maintain the entire fleet.

you have to realize, that our planes our so advance that they last many many many years. heck, the F-15 Eagle, the most iconic fighter jet there is, was first used in the early 70's, its been nearly 40 years, and its still used very often, and its not set to retire for like another decade of so, so that right there is 50 years, and its still very viable.

so 50 years is really not unheard of. We still use planes from the 50's and 60's. like the AC-130.

and the F-35 is a very multifacited jet, so it will be fufilling the roles of what used to take 3-4 jets.