The Pentagon wants to make it so by 2025.
What You Should Know: The F-35 is the world s most expensive defense program ever. With time and experience can some of the costs come down?
In addition to being one of the most expensive military hardware platforms ever developed, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is also extremely expensive to operate. A year ago it was estimated that the fifth-generation advanced stealth aircraft cost around $44,000 an hour to fly or put another way $44 million to fly 1,000 hours. That could be $352 million over the 8,000-hour lifespan of the jet, which is more than twice as much as every other fighter aircraft in the U.S. military’s arsenal.
The F-35 Lightning II is Really Three Planes in One
The trillion-dollar stealth fighter has been ridiculed as a boondoggle, but there is no doubt it is the most advanced plane ever made.
With a total cost as high as $1.508 trillion dollars, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program would be the largest single military contract in history. However, a few things need to be put in perspective and the truth is this fifth-generation fighter offers a lot of bang for the buck and will be flying for decades to come.
First, the total cost has been estimated in 2070 dollars, when the lifecycle of the F-35 will likely come to an end. That means those fighters rolling off the assembly line could be flying when today’s toddlers are middle aged.