Aircraft Prices

vivtho

New Member
The price of the aircraft depends on several factors. This is one of the things I've been interested in for some time now. From what I can see, the price depends on
(1) The number of aircraft purchased
(2) Additional terms of the deal. For example, if the customer also purchases weapons, or training facitilies or the manufacturing rights, the cost can go up.
(3) The identity of the customer. Friendly and allied contries get better deals.
(4) How desperate the manufacturer is to get a sale.

I've attached a compilation of some of the aircraft prices from a list I've been maintaining. You might find it useful.
 

Mardini

New Member
well maybe Tomcat was more expensive than F-16s cuz Tomcat has not been mass produced as much as F-16s..... so mass production of F-16s brings the unit price down majorly.................. and there cud be more reasons too ofcourse! by the way... how much as a Mirage 2000-5 for?
Plz remember that the Tomcat operates a very special and very very expensive radar and avionics pack... and furthermore it is a larger aircraft and I think more expensive design, and finally as you said it is not mass produced in the number of the F-16
The Radar being so special and powerfull, I heard the Iranians use their operational F-14s as "mini-awacs"!
the mirage 2000-5 is priced at 34.5 mio $ as I read once and is indeed a cool aircraft :D
 

Frank Hammer

New Member
Specific inflation from military equipement is due to raw material increase (recently) but also lower production and so fixed cost are bigger per aircraft.
Also military production is not outsourced like civilian.In fact civilian manufactured goods price are deflationist because of productivity increase and outsourcing to low cost countries.This do not exist in military equipement.

On price of equipement, people should remove VAT (value added taxe) when exist like in UK or France on military products.When these products are exported, they are without VAT which do not apply to export.
real price is marginal cost of aircraft (out of R&D and fixed price for manufacturing) and it is much lower than most people think.
 

swerve

Super Moderator
G550 commercial aircraft = US$60m unit cost.
G550 AEW = US$300-330m unit cost.

Just an illustration of how much radar, military avionics costs nowadays...
Not just production cost of the avionics, but development, integration into the airframe, & testing, spread over a very small number of aircraft.
 

lobbie111

New Member
Nowdays to know the prices of aircraft isn't really neccesary maybe for a specification comparision as most purchases are made that include things like ongoing support, training and technichal assistance though i am not debating the relevancy of these figures which present a good indication of the aircrafts abilities
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
where is the su37 or 2u 35 in these stats:confused:
Neither one has entered serial production. I'd like to say that the discrepancy in prices in regards to Russian aircraft comes from the fact that the baseline model differs very much from what actually gets exported. This is especially true given the recent trend of installing some western avionics on Russian export gear. I suppose this can also apply to western aircraft, as a baseline F-16 would be very different from the Block 60 that's heading to the middle east soon.
 

ROCK45

New Member
Production & prices

Feanor
Neither one has entered serial production. I'd like to say that the discrepancy in prices in regards to Russian aircraft comes from the fact that the baseline model differs very much from what actually gets exported.
I agree that there is a difference between Russian AF used fighters compared to exports. I think a US Air Force Block-50 is better then a Chilean Block-52. I think there a discrepancy in Russian aircraft prices because so many different models offered or released in the press that never make it to production for example the many versions of the Mig-29, Mig-35, Su-37, PAK, and the equipment and gear offered but doesn’t make it into production..
Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Russia made any new built fighters/frames for 20 years other then the Su-27/30 line. It’s not common for countries to produce so many models of fighters even the US teen series are older designs but are still currently being produced. Fighter production is expensive and costly to maintain. Does anybody know if the Mig-29K are built on new frames for sure? I just thought about that and I’m not 100% sure I’m sure somebody here will know.

Feanor
This is especially true given the recent trend of installing some western avionics on Russian export gear.
I only know of one type of Russian fighter in production, the Su-30 series for certain customers who have western avionics in them. I can only assume Russian couldn’t produce certain systems that the customer wanted and requested. I believe there are more all Russian equipped Flankers then Flankers produced with some western avionics, please correct me if I’m wrong.

I would be interested in knowing of other Russian type fighters used western avionics on them or weapons. I don’t have a link but can remember somebody mentioning Magic or Magic II IR missile mounted on some Mig-21 or Mig-23. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think it’s very common for western avionics or gear to be on Russian built fighters.

Feanor
F-16 would be very different from the Block 60 that's heading to the Middle East soon.
The Block-60 Vipers started deliveries in 2004

Some quotes I found from the below link
http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article22.html

On December 6th, 2003, the first UAEAF F-16 Block 60 made its maiden flight from Lockheed's Fort Worth facility,

The UAE will take delivery of a first batch of F-16E/Fs in 2004.

In general getting or understanding fighter prices is difficult for a list of this type or thread. An example of not really getting the correct information on the important details would be the Rafale. One must assume when working out the finer details that this aircraft is much more expensive, thus the reason for lack of sales.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think Russia made any new built fighters/frames for 20 years other then the Su-27/30 line. It’s not common for countries to produce so many models of fighters even the US teen series are older designs but are still currently being produced. Fighter production is expensive and costly to maintain. Does anybody know if the Mig-29K are built on new frames for sure? I just thought about that and I’m not 100% sure I’m sure somebody here will know.
20 years? No. I'm pretty sure Su-25 and MiG-29 were still in production in 1988-1991. But since the mid 90's it seems like that's the case. Theoretically the MiG-29SMT offered to Algeria (and returned) were new airframes.

I only know of one type of Russian fighter in production, the Su-30 series for certain customers who have western avionics in them. I can only assume Russian couldn’t produce certain systems that the customer wanted and requested. I believe there are more all Russian equipped Flankers then Flankers produced with some western avionics, please correct me if I’m wrong.

I would be interested in knowing of other Russian type fighters used western avionics on them or weapons. I don’t have a link but can remember somebody mentioning Magic or Magic II IR missile mounted on some Mig-21 or Mig-23. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t think it’s very common for western avionics or gear to be on Russian built fighters.
The MiG-35 has the option of western avionics. Anyways the bulk of Russian fighter jet export has been the flanker family, so their installment of western avionics is what counts in terms of prices.

Thanks for the block 60 info. My point was that price can vary depending on the variant of the fighter plane and options that are chosen.
 
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