Introducing the U.S. Air Force's Top 10 Priciest Planes (to Fly)

Dominating both high and low, Lockheed Martin makes the F-35 Lightning II (front) and the F-16 (rear). Image source: Lockheed Martin.

10. Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

Image source: National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Time magazine calls Lockheed’s F-22 Raptor “the best overall combat plane in the world -- not to mention the most expensive.” And at $377 million per aircraft, they’re right about that.

But according to USAF estimates, the F-22 is “only” the 10th most expensive plane to fly, costing $58,059 per flight hour.

9. Boeing B-1B Lancer

Image source: Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III for the U.S. Air Force.

No. 9 on USAF’s list of pricey planes (to fly) is the venerable B-1B Lancer.

A total of 62 long-range Lancers sit in the Air Force inventory at present -- nearly 40% of the U.S. strategic bomber force. Each costs $61,027 per hour to fly.

8. Textron Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey

Image source: U.S. Air Force.

You might not think a glorified helicopter like this V-22 tiltrotor would rank among America’s priciest airplanes, but it does.

At $63,792 per flight hour, the Osprey is the eighth most expensive plane that the Air Force flies.

7. Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II

Image source: U.S. Air Force.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation from the Air Force statistics is this: Even with a total program cost of $1.5 trillion, Lockheed Martin’s much-maligned F-35 stealth fighter jet ranks only seventh in terms of operating cost, at $67,550 per flight hour.

6. Boeing B-52H Stratofortress

Image source: U.S. Air Force.

Here’s a revelation for you: 60 years young and still flying high, Boeing’s B-52 actually costs more to operate than the more recent B-1 Lancer.

The ownership cost per flight hour comes in at $70,388.

5. Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS

Image source: U.S. Air Force.

Designed as an airborne battle management platform, E-8 Joint STARS aircraft perform a vital role, tracking ground targets and relaying tactical imagery to theater commanders. But these services don’t come cheap; each hour a Joint STARS is airborne sets taxpayers back $70,780.

4. Boeing OC-135B Open Skies

Image source: Tim Felce via Wikimedia Commons.

Designed to support the 34-nation Open Skies Treaty between NATO and the former Soviet states, OC-135B is the ultimate special-purpose vehicle.

Its mission: to overfly treaty states and snap pictures of what their militaries are up to … at a cost per flight hour of $99,722.

3. Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy

Image source: Staff Sgt. James Wilkinson for the U.S. Air Force.

Every hour a C-5 Galaxy is in the air, taxpayers shell out $100,941. But the C-5 does its best to earn its keep.

As the biggest transport aircraft in the Air Force, a C-5 can carry two Abrams main battle tanks at once -- or 10 light armored vehicles, or one entire Chinook helicopter, F-16 fighter jet, or even an A-10 Warthog in its capacious hold.

And the USAF owns 64 of them.

2. Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

Image source: Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo for the U.S. Air Force.

So far we’ve seen the B-52 strategic bomber and the B-1 make it onto this list. It’s little wonder we find the B-2 Spirit here as well.

Infamous for costing taxpayers $2 billion each to build, the B-2 has famously been described as costing “literally … its weight in gold.”

It’s also pretty pricey to fly, with each of our 20 B-2s carrying a cost per flight hour of $130,159.

1. Boeing E-4 Nightwatch

Image source: Staff Sgt. Michael Haggerty for the U.S. Air Force.

The hands-down priciest plane to fly in the entire U.S. Air Force? That’s the Boeing E-4 Nightwatch.

We only own four of them, but each one of these converted Boeing 747s, tasked with keeping the President alive and airborne in the middle of a nuclear war, costs $159,529 per hour to fly.

What about the Warthog?

The A-10 costs just $19,051 per flight hour, which is one-third of an F-22 Raptor’s cost, and one-quarter that of an F-35A.

Ah, yes, the scary-expensive A-10 Warthog.

Image source: Tsgt. Lee Schading for U.S. Air Force.

What it means to investors

More numerous transports like the C-5 Galaxy and V-22 Osprey are also expensive. But they, too, have unique capabilities. For example, a C-5 costs 4 times as much to fly as a C-130 Hercules. But the C-5 can carry 6 times more

cargo.This could save them from the budget axe.

As for the other planes on the top 10 list, there are a few broad conclusions we can draw.

Airplanes with unique capabilities, such as Boeing’s OC-135B and E-4, and Northrop’s E-8, are built in small batches. But each requires its own ecosystem

to keep it flying, and that costs money.

Bombers cost beaucoup bucks

And these are the very planes facing competition from cheaper alternatives such as missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones),

and even higher-tech lasers, railguns, and hypersonic missiles.

But what about the combat jets?

Lockheed’s F-35 and F-22 are among our most expensive planes.

Strategic bombers like Boeing’s B-52 and B-1, as well as Northrop Grumman’s B-2 also cost a bundle.

Caveat investorThe airplanes causing the most controversy in Congress -- high-tech fighter jets and bombers

-- are also the planes most at risk of losing contracts to higher-tech, cheaper alternatives.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Lasers on airplanes -- according to the U.S. Air Force, they’re coming as early as 2020. Image source: U.S. Air Force.

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