By Andrea Shalal-Esa
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
...The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the costliest weapons program in U.S. history. The Pentagon estimates it will cost $392 billion to develop and build 2,443 of the new jets for use by the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The U.S. government has slashed its estimate for the long-term operating costs of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets by more than 20 percent to under $1 trillion. The new estimate of $857 billion could help ensure the new plane turns out to be as affordable as advertised..."
[ It is reassuring to be assured of lower costs by estimating them to be lower. In Pentagon "speak" $392$ billion to develop and build the 2,443 fighters, cut down from the original 2500, plus the paltry $857 billion operating costs over 55 years brings the total to a miserly $1.25 trillion, or barely noticeable at 22.9 Billion per year, a nearly invisible 17 cents per day for each individuals share of the cost. Who in their right mind wouldn't be happy to pay 17 cents a day to be free from communism, or the evil Chinese threat, or whomever the next monstrous enemy of freedom and the American way turns out to be? As is widely known, combat fighter jets normally have a lifetime far longer than 55 years, so the Pentagon estimates appear way too conservative. At a more reasonable thousand year lifetime, the cost practically disappears, as its less than a cent a day per person. These planes are practically free. There seems to be no reason not to go ahead and order a few thousand extra, just in case.]
"A second senior defense official said the current estimate by the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office put the cost per flying hour of the F-35B model at over $41,000, but the actual cost would likely be closer to [a mere] $37,000."
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
...The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the costliest weapons program in U.S. history. The Pentagon estimates it will cost $392 billion to develop and build 2,443 of the new jets for use by the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The U.S. government has slashed its estimate for the long-term operating costs of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets by more than 20 percent to under $1 trillion. The new estimate of $857 billion could help ensure the new plane turns out to be as affordable as advertised..."
[ It is reassuring to be assured of lower costs by estimating them to be lower. In Pentagon "speak" $392$ billion to develop and build the 2,443 fighters, cut down from the original 2500, plus the paltry $857 billion operating costs over 55 years brings the total to a miserly $1.25 trillion, or barely noticeable at 22.9 Billion per year, a nearly invisible 17 cents per day for each individuals share of the cost. Who in their right mind wouldn't be happy to pay 17 cents a day to be free from communism, or the evil Chinese threat, or whomever the next monstrous enemy of freedom and the American way turns out to be? As is widely known, combat fighter jets normally have a lifetime far longer than 55 years, so the Pentagon estimates appear way too conservative. At a more reasonable thousand year lifetime, the cost practically disappears, as its less than a cent a day per person. These planes are practically free. There seems to be no reason not to go ahead and order a few thousand extra, just in case.]
"A second senior defense official said the current estimate by the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office put the cost per flying hour of the F-35B model at over $41,000, but the actual cost would likely be closer to [a mere] $37,000."
