May 16, 2006: While the new U.S. F-22 fighter gets a lot of heat for being expensive, other military aircraft aren't so cheap either. For example, in the next year, the U.S. is buying 20 F-22s, at a cost of $170 million each. But thirty F-18E fighter aircraft are also being bought, for $80 million each. Twelve EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft are being bought for $107 million each. Non-combat aircraft are also expensive, as in the case of sixteen V-22 tilt-wing transports being bought for $128 million each. The latest version of the half century old C-130 (the C-130J) costs $90 million each. The KC-130J air refueling version costs $78 million each. C-17 transports cost $208 million each. For the new aircraft, the initial development costs tends to be very high, often doubling the actual cost of each aircraft eventually purchased. This is much less the case with older designs. There is still some R&D going on, but only enough to bump the ultimate cost 5-10 percent per aircraft.

Because of the high costs of new military aircraft, there is continued enthusiasm for refurbishing older aircraft, and keeping them in service. The best example of this is the half century old B-52 heavy bomber. The ones still in use were built four decades ago, and are still the most effective way to deliver smart bombs.