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.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.