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19FortyFive: A place where experts analyze defense, national security, foreign policy, and politics. We welcome all viewpoints and ideas.
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News
The Pentagon Cut the B-2 Bomber Program From $75,400,000,000 to $61,100,000,000 and Made Every Aircraft More Expensive. Cutting the Order From 132 to 21 Nearly Quadrupled the Cost per Bomber.
18+ hour, 5+ min ago (846+ words) What the money bought when it came to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber: Four General Electric F118s at 17,300 pounds of thrust each, a 172-foot wingspan, 336,500 pounds maximum takeoff weight, 167,000 pounds of fuel and 60,000 pounds of payload, 6,000 nautical miles without a tanker, above…...
Sweden's Saab JAS-39 Gripen E Costs About $4,700 to $9,900 per Flight Hour Against $38,000 to $42,000 for an F-35A and Up to $68,000 for an F-22 Raptor. It Has No Stealth Airframe, and a Handful of Conscripts With 1 Technician Can Rearm It on a Public Road in Under 20 Minutes.
2+ day, 6+ hour ago (559+ words) A small country facing a much larger neighbor cannot outspend its way to air power. Everything about the JAS 39 Gripen follows from that one sentence....
The US Air Force Built Only 21 B-2 Spirits and They Cost About $2,000,000,000 Each. It Wants at Least 100 B-21 Raiders at Roughly $750,000,000 Apiece.
3+ day, 17+ hour ago (498+ words) The B-2 cost $2,000,000,000 a copy because only 21 were built. The B-21 was designed from the start to avoid that, with cost written in as a performance requirement....
The US Air Force Retired the F-117 Nighthawk in 2008 and Never Stopped Flying It. The Service Now Says the Aircraft Will Stay in the Air Until 2034 — 26 Years After Its Own Retirement.
3+ day, 23+ hour ago (598+ words) The F-117 Nighthawk was retired in 2008. It is still flying, and the Air Force says it will keep flying until 2034 — longer in retirement than most aircraft serve....
Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.
4+ day, 2+ hour ago (595+ words) Northrop built the F-20 Tigershark entirely with its own money. It out-turned the F-16, needed half the maintenance, cost less — and not one air force on earth bought it....
The Government Accountability Office Reviewed All 13 Programs in the US Air Force's $21,000,000,000 B-52 Modernization and Found 10 of Them in Trouble. The Engine Replacement Went From $3,000,000,000 to $15,400,000,000.
4+ day, 2+ hour ago (756+ words) It is the oldest bomber in the United States Air Force, and it is set to keep flying into the middle of this century — and potentially even beyond. The B-52 Stratofortress, the workhorse of the United States nuclear deterrent against…...
The Dassault Rafale Fighter Costs About $16,500 an Hour to Fly and an F-35A Costs About $42,000. The Rafale Is Not Stealthy, and It Is Selling Better Than It Ever Has.
4+ day, 18+ hour ago (657+ words) A Rafale costs roughly $16,500 per flight hour against about $42,000 for an F-35A. Dassault's answer to stealth is not to hide — it is to out-network what it cannot outrun....
The US Space Force X-37B Spaceplane Is 29 Feet Long, Weighs 11,000 Pounds and Has a Payload Bay 7 Feet Long. Nobody Outside the Program Has Ever Been Told What Goes Inside It.
5+ day, 29+ min ago (463+ words) The X-37B is 29 feet long, weighs 11,000 pounds and carries a 7-foot payload bay. The Space Force announces when it launches and when it lands, and nothing in between....
The US Navy Fixed a Price on Stealth Technology Nobody Had Invented Yet, and the A-12 Avenger II Never Flew. 35 Years Later Boeing Lost $4,900,000,000 in a Single Year on the Same Kind of Contract.
5+ day, 1+ hour ago (1238+ words) Lockheed refused to bid. Northrop refused to bid, and told the Navy its cost estimate was at least $2,000,000,000 short. The contract fixed a price of $4,840,000,000 on stealth coatings, composites and a radar that did not yet exist. The team that…...
Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Money Building the YF-118G Bird of Prey Stealth Aircraft. It Flew 38 Times on Landing Gear From a Beech King Air and an Ejection Seat From a Harrier.
5+ day, 23+ hour ago (932+ words) The YF-118G “Bird of Prey” was arguably one of the most unique, best-looking aircraft ever built. If you think it resembled a sci-fi spacecraft from Hollywood, you would not be wrong. The aircraft was named after the Klingon Bird of Prey…...