$240 million

Lockheed

spend for each of the 42 F-35s jet fighters it is planning on buying. That’s a quarter-billion dollars for a single fighter plane. The U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy are planning on buying 2,457 of the planes at $161 million each, for a total of $396 billion, according to the Pentagon’s latest Selected Acquisition Report. Foreign prices tend to be more because they include assorted support costs. Hard to believe the F-35 is supposed to be the low-cost end of the Pentagon’s so-called high-low mix. Until you realize the F-22 is now clocking in at $417 million per plane, that is.

  • Share
  • Read Later