Flying Cost of Fighter jet's

[Nav]

What are the flying cost /hour of aircrafts like F-16 c/D , EU fighter , Gripen , J-10 , jf-17 , etc , i read so many times that westren Fighter are more cheap to Oprate then Russian fighter's..

 

[SpArK]

self delete

 

[Nav]

Benny , u didn't read properly.. I mean , flying cost of an aircraft /hour , not cost of an entrie bird.

 

[mjnaushad]

Benny Flying cost is different from Purchasing Price.....

 

[brahmastra]

price/sortie?

 

[SpArK]

Benny Flying cost is different from Purchasing Price.....

OK , my mistake. lets wait for the experts to come with the cost factor coz i dont know about them.

 

[gowthamraj]

In a tamil article i read that the single flying hour cost of su'30mki is 35 lakhs

 

[Safriz]

Lets guess...Make an emperical formula
Starting with fuel consumption...Say an aircraft has a known fuel carrying capacity and a known range..Divide fuel with distance travelled and we know per mile fuel consumption..
Then we know the aircraft's speed...Multiply fuel per mile consumption with speed per hour and we know fuel consumption per hour?

Me noob at maths,so may be another member with good maths can do the calculations

 

[Nav]

Where are Experts??? Guys we looking for u

 

[Chogy]

I can try... the problem is, do we fold in everything, including the pay to the pilot, the mechanics? Do we add in the cost of parts that will eventually be replaced, divided by the number of sorties before that component needs replacement?

See, it can become very convoluted. But a basic cost for fuel is simple enough. Working with pounds and gallons, a typical F-15 sortie consists of internal fuel, plus one external tank, total fuel weight 13,400 + 4,000 = 17,000 pounds. We'd land with fuel remaining, so assume 14,000 pounds of fuel burnt. At 6 pounds per gallon, that is 2,333 gallons used.

If that fuel was purchased at a typical FBO, it'd cost $3 or more per gallon, so that would be perhaps $7,000 for fuel alone. But governments buy in bulk, no taxes, probably less than $1 per gallon.

I would guess $30 worth of oil is burnt each sortie. If you fire 20mm shells, that can add up quickly, at a few dollars per shot. If you add the cost of pilot pay, I'd calculate that by the pilot's annual salary divided by the number of sorties he flies per year. I won't even touch maintenance.

See how quickly it can become complex? I vaguely remember from my time active duty that each training sortie in an F-15C was calculated at something like $24,000 U.S. total cost. A T-38 would be much less, a B-1 much more.

 

[forcetrip]

Engine depreciation? I think that would be a chunk of change as well. whats the shelf life of these engines? 2000-4000 hrs?

 

[gowthamraj]

I can try... the problem is, do we fold in everything, including the pay to the pilot, the mechanics? Do we add in the cost of parts that will eventually be replaced, divided by the number of sorties before that component needs replacement?

See, it can become very convoluted. But a basic cost for fuel is simple enough. Working with pounds and gallons, a typical F-15 sortie consists of internal fuel, plus one external tank, total fuel weight 13,400 + 4,000 = 17,000 pounds. We'd land with fuel remaining, so assume 14,000 pounds of fuel burnt. At 6 pounds per gallon, that is 2,333 gallons used.

If that fuel was purchased at a typical FBO, it'd cost $3 or more per gallon, so that would be perhaps $7,000 for fuel alone. But governments buy in bulk, no taxes, probably less than $1 per gallon.

I would guess $30 worth of oil is burnt each sortie. If you fire 20mm shells, that can add up quickly, at a few dollars per shot. If you add the cost of pilot pay, I'd calculate that by the pilot's annual salary divided by the number of sorties he flies per year. I won't even touch maintenance.

See how quickly it can become complex? I vaguely remember from my time active duty that each training sortie in an F-15C was calculated at something like $24,000 U.S. total cost. A T-38 would be much less, a B-1 much more.

That helps a lot sir

 

[Safriz]

Thats a good start...Thanks Chogy..

On average a turbo jet engine needs overhaul every 4000 hours..

If a plane costs say 20 million dollars..how much of this is the cost of the engine?

 

[fatman17]

F-35 Lightning
Source(s): CBC News - Canada - Canada to spend $9B on F-35 fighter jets
Israeli Plans to Buy F-35s Moving Forward
Unit Cost : $138 million

F-22 Raptor
Source(s) : Factsheets : F-22 Raptor
Unit Cost : $143 million

F/A-18 Super Hornet
Source(s): Australia Buying 24 Super Hornets As Interim Gap-Fillers
Unit Cost : $98 million

F/A-18 Hornet
Source(s) : The US Navy -- Fact File
Unit Cost : $29 million

F-15E/S/K/SG Strike Eagle & Variants
Source(s) : Singapore’s RSAF Decides to Fly Like An Eagle
Unit Cost : $125 million (F-15 SG)

F-16 Fighting Falcon
Source(s) : Oman to Buy F-16 Block 50/52 in $3.5 Billion Programme | defpro.com
Will F-16 embarrass UK in Oman? - The DEW Line
Unit Cost (including weapons, spares and support) : $194 million (Block 52)

Mirage 2000 (Assembly Line Closed)
Source(s) : Avionics Magazine :: UAE's Modernized Mirage
Unit Cost : $67 million (Mirage 2000-9)

Rafale
Source(s) : Projet de loi de finances pour 2009 : Dfense - Equipement des forces
Unit Cost : $89 million

Eurofighter Typhoon
Source(s) : Saudis Pay 4.43 Billion Pounds for 72 Eurofighters (Update5) - Bloomberg
Unit Cost : $123 million

JAS 39 Gripen
Source(s) : Thailand Buying JAS-39 Gripens, AWACS
Unit Cost : $78 million (Gripen C/D)

MiG 29 Fulcrum
Source(s) : Russia To Sell 20 MiG-29 Fighters To Myanmar - Defense News
Unit Cost : $29 million (MiG 29SMT) $39 million (MiG 29K)

JF-17 Thunder
Source(s) : JF 17 - Pakistan's Pride - Air Force Technology
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex....
Unit Cost : $15 million

these costs are misleading - no apple for apple comparison - F-16 more expensive than a F-22 and F-35!

 

[Chogy]

Maintenance is a very large part of the cost, and probably the most difficult to calculate. I think you'd even need to fold in the cost of the facility used to store parts and maintain the aircraft. Even the specialized tools.

I believe maintenance and operational costs are roughly equal, when all is said and done.

Engine life can vary greatly depending upon how they are used. The greatest wear to an engine is in what are called cycles, the movement of the throttle from idle, to max, back to idle. A combat/training sortie might have dozens of these, and they will wear the engine out faster than simply getting airborne and flying around at a constant speed. Regardless, jet engines can have incredibly long lives compared to piston engines, but their component costs are very high.

Here is an article that I find very interesting in that it shows the beautiful engineering that goes into a modern turbine - growing hot-section blades from a single crystal of metal! Incredibly high-tech stuff, and it also illustrates the challenges faced by any country to start modern jet engine production from scratch.