Top 10 Most Expensive US

Military Planes
To strengthen the military supremacy of the
‘superpowers’, modern and advance fighter aircraft were
developed and modified from time to time. As the US
Senate votes to cut military spending on the
$350 million F-22 fighter, here’s a look at the military
aircraft with the biggest price tags
No 10. F/A-18 Hornet: $94 million
First entering service in the 1980s, the twin-engine
fighter plane was the U.S.’s first strike fighter
— an aircraft capable of attacking both ground
and aerial targets. It has seen action in
Operation Desert Storm and as the aircraft of
the Navy’s Blue Angels Flight Demonstration
Squadron. The F/A-18 is also used by Canada,
Australia, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and
Switzerland.
No 9. EA-18G Growler: $102 million
Hot off the presses, the Growler is a lightly armed version
of the F/A-18 fighter that has been updated for electronic
warfare (it is currently being delivered to the Navy).
Growlers are capable of not only finding and disrupting
anti-aircraft radar, but also jamming enemy
communications.
No 8. V-22 Osprey: $118 million
This tilt rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a
helicopter but can fly faster and farther like a fixed-wing
plane, was first used in combat in Iraq in 2007. The
Osprey’s production has been bedeviled by design and
construction problems: the craft claimed the lives of at
least 30 Marines and civilians during its development
alone (former Vice President Dick Cheney tried
repeatedly to ground the plane). Still, because of its
range and versatility, the Marine Corps plans to deploy a
squadron of V-22s to Afghanistan by the end of the year.
No 7. F-35 Lightning II: $122 million
Lockheed Martin’s 2001 deal to build this stealth,
supersonic fighter jets was at the time the largest military
contract ever. The F-35s, intended to replace an aging
aircraft arsenal, were developed as part of a Joint Strike
Fighter program between the U.S. and its allies and were
criticized as underpowered and overweight — and
therefore easy targets. Making matters worse, from 2007
to 2008, cyber spies infiltrated the 7.5 million lines of
computer code that powered the Joint Strike Fighter,
raising concerns that enemies could copy the F-35′s
design and exploit its weaknesses. In April 2009,
Lockheed Martin said it did not believe the program had
been compromised.
No 6. E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: $232 million
A major step forward for surveillance and
reconnaissance, the Advanced Hawkeye’s
powerful new radar system will increase the
range of territory an aircraft can monitor by
300%. “It can probably watch the pistachios
pop in Iran,” an analyst for the think tank
Lexington Institute told National Defense in
July. Though development of the plane is on
track and two test versions have been
delivered to the Navy, budget cuts may keep
the planes grounded for at least a year longer
than planned.

No 5. VH-71 Kestrel: $241 million

This high-tech helicopter project, intended to
replace the President’s aging chopper fleet,
was running more than 50% over budget by
the time Barack Obama took office. Soon after
his Inauguration, the President announced
plans to scrap the helicopters because of cost
overruns. On July 22, however, the House
Appropriations Committee unanimously
approved restoring $485 million to fund the
Kestrels.

No 4. P-8A Poseidon: $290 million

Boeing’s spruced-up military version of its 737 jet will be
used by the Navy to conduct anti-submarine warfare and
gather intelligence. It can carry torpedoes, missiles,
depth charges and other weapons. The P-8A is expected
to go into service in 2013.
 No 3. C17A Globemaster III: $328 million

The Air Force military-transport plane is used to move

troops into war zones, perform medical evacuations and
conduct airdrop missions. There are 190 C17As in service;
the aircraft is propelled by four turbofan engines (of the
same type used on the twin-engine Boeing 757) and can
drop 102 paratroopers at once. In operation since 1993, it
has been used to deliver troops and humanitarian aid to
Afghanistan and Iraq.
No 2. F-22 Raptor: $350 million
First conceived during the Cold War as an airframe
to vie with Soviet aircraft that was never built,
the F-22 is touted by manufacturer Lockheed
Martin as the best overall combat plane in the
world — not to mention the most expensive. It
can shoot down enemy cruise missiles, fly long
distances at supersonic speeds and avoid
nearly all types of radar detection. But the
Senate debate over whether to build seven
more — at a taxpayer cost of $1.67 billion —
eventually came down to the plane’s job-
creating abilities. The axed project would have
employed 25,000 Americans.

No 1. B-2 Spirit: $2.4 billion

The B-2 bomber was so costly that Congress cut its initial
1987 purchase order from 132 to 21. (A 2008 crash
leaves the current number at 20.) The B-2 is hard to
detect via infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual or
radar signals. This stealth capability makes it able to
attack enemy targets with less fear of retaliation. In use
since 1993, the B-2 has been deployed to both Iraq and
Afghanistan.