Defence may have some work to do on their message in regard to how much it costs to fly military aircraft. That is if anyone actually cared other than a few people.
In a previous post, I pointed out cost per flying hour for some of these aircraft for the 2018-2019 budget year.
Some were similar to what was observed for years. Some were a bit wild.
In the budget it mentioned that $436M was budgeted for F-18F Super Hornet sustainment. Flying hours done in that year showed up in the next budget year. 3700 flying hours. With, a cost per flying hour of $117,837.
This article is about 10 years of F-18F Super Hornet service with the RAAF. It mentions the award of a 4 year, $280M contract for what appear to be avionics support for both the F-18F and the EA-18G.
"Today all 24 aircraft are still operational, flown by 1 Sqn and supported by an Air Force/Industry partnership under the Air Combat Electronic Attack Sustainment Program (ACEASP), which also supports the Growler fleet. The team consists of Boeing Defence Australia (which replaced Boeing in July 2016) as the prime contractor, together with sub-contractors Raytheon Australia, Northrop Grumman Australia, Airspeed, Pacific Aerospace Consulting and Martin Baker Australia.
In March, the ACEASP was awarded a four-year, $280 million, sustainment contract extension until 2025. Life of type for the Super Hornet is currently 2030 for the Super Hornet and 2035 for the Growler."
Budget figures from years ago show that the F-18F Super Hornet was about $24,000--$26,000 cost per flight hour.
There is a lot of money being spent on the the F-18F and EA-F-18G. Finding the cost per flying hour from public documents, will be difficult.
photo: Defence
||======================||
Contact:
EP Actual on Twitter
