chatgpt estimates the f-35 costs up to $42k per hour to fly. Lets be generous and round that up to 50k, assume the total flight time is 3 hours, and quadruple the cost for the bomber.
4 f-35s = 50000 * 4 * 3 = $600,000
1 bomber = 200000*3 = $600,000
total generously estimated cost: $1.2million, less than 1/1000th of their estimate. Even if we quadruple the cost to account for getting the planes in place, that's still barely over 1/500th of their estimate.
I think the B2 came from Flagstaff Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Maybe from Diego Garcia? So a lot of hours to fly there (and back, without landing!). However? It's still a fraction of 2 Billion AND it counts as a training mission = a cost that would be spent regardless.
So, they're probably taking the regular maintenance costs and dividing by hours between maintenance. Of course, the real question they're missing is if a flyover costs anything that wouldn't be spent anyway, since the pilots are required to put in a certain amount of flight hours regularly.
chatgpt estimates the f-35 costs up to $42k per hour to fly. Lets be generous and round that up to 50k, assume the total flight time is 3 hours, and quadruple the cost for the bomber.
4 f-35s = 50000 * 4 * 3 = $600,000
1 bomber = 200000*3 = $600,000
total generously estimated cost: $1.2million, less than 1/1000th of their estimate. Even if we quadruple the cost to account for getting the planes in place, that's still barely over 1/500th of their estimate.
I think the B2 came from
FlagstaffWhiteman AFB in Missouri. Maybe from Diego Garcia? So a lot of hours to fly there (and back, without landing!). However? It's still a fraction of 2 Billion AND it counts as a training mission = a cost that would be spent regardless.So, they're probably taking the regular maintenance costs and dividing by hours between maintenance. Of course, the real question they're missing is if a flyover costs anything that wouldn't be spent anyway, since the pilots are required to put in a certain amount of flight hours regularly.