Based on official data we’ve seen, the average annual cost per flying hour of Air Force aircraft types is up across the board with one exception: intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance platforms. From Fiscal 2003 through 2007, the annual CPFH of ISR types actually declined on average by 4.1 percent, aided by the reduced complexity of unmanned aircraft. Over that same period, though, the annual CPFH was up about 8.1 percent per year for bombers, 9.8 percent for fighters, 10.2 percent for tactical airlift, and a whopping 17.2 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively, for strategic lift and VIP transports. The annual cost increases of flying tankers, trainers, and special operations platforms ranged from roughly six percent to seven percent during that five-year span.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.