[selectodude]

Which now looks like damn near a bargain compared to the financial black hole that the F-35 has turned into.

[akvadrako]

Um, what? F22 program cost about $334 million per aircraft and is roughly $60k per hour of flight.

F-35 is a comparative bargain at $95 million and $35k/hour.

[tablespoon]

> Um, what? F22 program cost about $334 million per aircraft and is roughly $60k per hour of flight.

> F-35 is a comparative bargain at $95 million and $35k/hour.

But that might not be a fair comparison. IIRC, the F-22 project was ended far earlier than originally planned, so development costs were amortized over far fewer planes.

According to Wikipedia, there were only 187 non-test F-22s built in total (out of an originally planned 750) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor), but there are already "620+" F-35s and production continues (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning...).

[greedo]

The big complaint now about the F-35 (and the goalposts keep shifting) is the cost per flight hour. This should get better as the Air Force trains more maintainers, and LockMart actually starts to provide the level of parts/supplies they are contractually obligated.

[p_l]

And one day the maintenance software might even work instead of being constant worry

[phonon]

Apples to oranges. The last block of F22s had a flyaway cost of $137 million.[1] At the F35A volume of 1000+ the costs would not be majorly different.

[1] https://archive.is/aPCca

[slowmovintarget]

Wasn't the F-22 actually good at something, though?

[akvadrako]

From what I get the F-22 is still the best air superiority fighter.