Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes

[longknife]

by War News Updates Editor

F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million

First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-engine fighter plane was the U.S.'s first strike fighter — an aircraft capable of attacking both ground and aerial targets. It has seen action in Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft of the Navy's Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada, Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.

WNU Editor: The photo gallery starts here. Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes - Photo Essays - TIME


I've seen the C-17 and F-22 flying out of Nellis AFB and both are quite impressive.

 

[Mr. H.]

That picture of the Globemaster has to be Photoshopped. I mean cool, but really... ?

 

[waltky]

First the F-22 oxygen problem - now this...

F-35 fighter jet fleet grounded by Pentagon
22 February 2013 - The US has grounded its entire fleet of 51 F-35 fighter jets after the discovery of a cracked engine blade.

The fault was detected during a routine inspection of an air force version of the jet (F-35A) at Edwards Air Force Base in California, said the Pentagon. Different versions are flown by the navy and the marine corps. All have been grounded. The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons programme. with a cost of nearly $400bn (£260bn). The Pentagon said flight operations would remain suspended until the root cause is established.

Different versions of the most advanced US fighter jet are flown by the navy and the marine corps

Friday's order was the second time in two months planes from the F-35 range have been grounded. The marine corps variant (F-35B), a short take-off and vertical landing variant (STOVL), was grounded for nearly a month after a manufacturing defect caused a fuel line to detach just before a training flight in January. The air force version takes off from, and lands on, conventional runways while the STOVL version takes off from shorter runways and lands like a helicopter.

Squadron Leader Steve Long of the UK's RAF explained the capabilities of the F-35 in 2010

The UK is buying the SOVL variant for its future aircraft carriers. It is replacing the scrapped Harrier jet which had a range of 300 nautical miles, compared with the F-35's 450 nautical miles. With a top speed of 1,200mph (1,930km/h), the F-35 can fly almost twice as fast as the Harrier, while it also has radar transparency and stealth capabilities - the Harrier had neither.

BBC News - F-35 fighter jet fleet grounded by Pentagon

See also:

Pentagon grounds entire Joint Strike Fighter fleet
February 22, 2013 - All Joint Strike Fighter operations have been suspended after an inspection revealed a cracked turbine blade in an engine at Edwards Air Force Base in California, officials said Friday.

The blade has been sent to Pratt & Whitney’s Engine Facility in Connecticut for more tests, but all F-35s will remain on the ground until the investigation is finished and experts determine what caused the crack, according to the Joint Strike Fighter program office. The Marine variant of the fighter jet had just resumed flying last week after an engine malfunction prompted a 30-day suspension.

The $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon’s largest weapons program, is seven years behind schedule. The jet is still in the test and development phase and not yet fully operational.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in December that the Joint Strike Fighter will see its first overseas deployment in 2017, to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan. The fighter program is billed on its website as the DOD’s “focal point for defining affordable next generation strike aircraft systems for the navy, Air Force, Marines, and our allies.” The jets are built by Lockheed Martin and powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon-grounds-entire-joint-strike-fighter-fleet-1.209283