F35 - the plane with anything but a stealthy financial footprint

[Skybird]

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinio...ch-ncna1259781

And even the relatively low $80 million-per-F-35 price tag is deceptive, because the F-35 has proven so expensive and challenging to maintain that every hour an F-35 is flown costs $36,000 on average, compared to $22,000 for an F-16. By an alternate metric, the F-35 is over three times more expensive per hourto fly.

My old lament. Too high costs mean smaller numbers, smaller numbers only to some degree can be compensated for by technology superiority (that is dwindling both on stealth and sensors). Even a supoerior plane still has nto developed the capability to be in two or three locations simultaneously. And every single loss weighs the heavier if you have no robust numbers in reserve.



Thats why the F35 never would be my choice.