The might of any military lies in its total assets and be it ground, sea or navy one. Without a doubt, these days the fights are mostly fought in the air rather than on land or water. With the need to protect the airspace of one’s nation from the invasion of other nations, each military in the world is striving to come up with better aerial weapons these days since the World War II era. This brought us the advent of jet fighter technology that replaced the old propeller driven aircraft. Now the skies of the world are marred with jet fighters that are a marvel of human achievement in aeronautical engineering.
For our readers today we want to bring to you a list of the most expensive jet fighters in the military. These jet fighters are state of the art but that does come with a high price tag. So get ready to have a read of the list most expensive jet fighters in the military (Part 1).
MiG-29 Fulcrum: $23.8 million
The Mig-29; a twin-engine fighter jet built for air superiority is referred by NATO as Fulcrum. Many aviation enthusiasts made a comparison and found the Mig-29 to be a tad superior to its opposing European and America counterparts of the era. Mig-29 entered the active duty service back in 1982 and till this day, it undergoes modifications to be adaptable for meeting the modern day enemy fighters.
Majority of the Mig-29 ever made are in use of countries like Russia, India, and Ukraine. This air superiority jet fighter has a top speed of 1500mph. the unit cost of a Mig-29 is about 23.8 million dollars.
MiG-21: $25.1 million
MiG-21 is the result of the genius minds at the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau who built this single-engine jet fighter as an improvement on the previous MiG-17 and MiG-19. Being with fitted with the Tumansky R25-300 turbojet engine, this aircraft has a top speed of nearly 1350 mph. the aircraft was built during an era that was devoid of advanced avionics and radar technology of toady but it still performed ambush attacks with near precision. The ambush of the aircraft lied in its speed of attacking the enemy and making it off of the spot with high speed. Despite being available for public purchase, the aircraft costed nearly a sum of 2.9 million dollars for its manufacturing back in 1959.
Nowadays the cost of a single MiG-21 is about 25.1 million dollars.
F-16C/D Fighting Falcon: $29.1 million
F-16 Fighting Falcon is a work of art presented to US air force by Lockheed Martin as a single-engine multirole jet fighter that was used for both air superiority as well as close air support missions. The current variants of the F-16 are models C and D that are graded due to their engine of either being a General Electric F110 or the Pratt & Whitney F100.
Actually, F-16C is the single seat variant while the F-16D is the originally designed two-seat variant and both of these variants entered the service simultaneously back in 1994 and each individual unit had a cost of 18.8 million dollars at that time. Nb2wdays it rough calculates to about 29.1 million dollars.
Dassault Mirage 2000: $30.6 million
Dassault Mirage 2000, the tactical multirole, fighter and bomber is the flagship fighter jet of the French Air Force that was designed to serve in the low altitude missions back when it entered the military in 1984. The aircraft after entering service was renowned for its successful mission rate and was a highly exported European aircraft. With its SNECMA M53-P2 engine, the aircraft has the ability to fly at a top speed of 1450 mph.
The cost of a single Dassault Mirage 2000 is about 39.6 million dollars.
MiG-31 Foxhound: $33.2 million
MiG-31; NATO designation Foxhound is a two-seat supersonic interceptor aircraft that entered the military service back in 1982 and was an exclusive jet fighter for the Kazakhstani Air Force and Russian Air Force.
The MiG-31 is powered by its 2 of the D-30F6 turbofan shaft engines that give it a speed exceeding a little above Mach 2.4 which is about 1900 mph. The aircraft is designed to not only fly with high speeds but to maintain that ability on low altitudes as well. The cost of a single MiG-31 is about 33.2 million dollars.
F/A-18 Hornet: $34.1 million
The F/A-18 Hornet is the first aircraft of the United States that was regarded as the strike fighter. It is a twin-engine, single-seat aircraft built for multiple mission roles. The D model variant of the F/A-18 Hornet is currently in Navy’s service where it serves for mission roles such as attacking, tactical air controller and forward air controller.
The F/A-18 currently operates from all 10 of the US’s active duty aircraft carriers and is also the main attraction of the famed air show; Blue Angels. The aircraft has the top speed of nearly 1.7 million dollars. It entered the Navy service back in 2009 at which time its cost was about 29 million dollars which nowadays amounts to 34.1 million dollars.
Su-30: $37.5 million
The Su-30 is a multirole jet fighter that was designed specifically for fulfilling the needs of the Russian Air Force and is piloted by not one but 2 crewmembers. This twin-engine aircraft is powered by its 2 AL-31FP by-pass turbojet engines that allow it to move at a top speed of nearly 1500mph while being at a maximum altitude of 56000 feet.
The cost of a single Su-30 is about 37.5 million dollars.
Su-27 Flanker: $41.2 million
The SU-27 Flanker as built by the Russian Air Force in response to the American built 4th generation fighters like F-15 Eagle and the F-14 Tomcat. It is a multirole slash air superiority fighter that is in service of Russia since 1985. The aircraft powered by its 2 of the Saturn/Lyulka AL-31F turbofan engines is able to move at a speed of 1550 mph.
The cost for a single Su-27 is about 41.2 million dollars.
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