U.S Navy F-35s Cost-per-Effect. How F-35s Save Money in Combat

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven 

(Washington, D.C.) During a Red Flag wargame exercise several years ago, a single F-35 was able to find, identify and destroy a small fleet of enemy fighters without being detected itself, an event which offered substantial evidence in favor of many F-35 advocates and Air Force leaders who were able to see the operational impact of the jet in a warfare scenario. The wargame represented one of the first key times an F-35 fully functioned as intended or envisioned in a massive, great power warfare scenario involving advanced adversaries and enemy 5th-Gen aircraft in a great power warfare circumstance.

These days, it is not so much the performance-enhancing characteristics of the F-35s which come under fire, perhaps for obvious reasons, but the cost questions associated with the Jet. A new F-35 does cost roughly $90 million dollars per plane, and operational, maintenance and sustainment costs are all projected to be high, yet is it possible that actually following through with the full planned fleet of F-35s could save the Pentagon money overall? Possibly.

U.S. Navy F-35 “Cost-per-Effect” | Mitchell Institute 

An interesting Mitchell Institute Policy Paper, titled “Resolving America’s Defense Strategy-Resource Mismatch,” makes the case for an alternative cost metric or method of analysis through which to address some of the pressing questions about F-35 cost issues. The paper seeks to make the case for a “Cost-per-Effect” analysis model for discerning aircraft costs.

“Cost-per-effect” is an assessment measure that affords the ability to assess the “business cases” behind comparative technologies through the operational lens of enterprise mission effectiveness and fiscal efficiency, not just lowest up-front per-unit cost for a piece of equipment that may only address one facet of the kill chain,” the paper says.

In terms of a numerical breakdown, the Mitchell paper says the hourly operational costs of an F-35 are in the range of 35K, whereas a report from Defense News last years say F-15EX operating costs are roughly 29K per hour, and a Jane’s estimate puts F-18 hourly costs at 24K. According to this available information, yes it appears the hourly operational costs for the F-35 are slightly higher than its 4th-Gen counterparts, however what happens when an overall cost-assessment metric is analyzed with a mind to performance, operational use and mission effectiveness?

Desert Storm Analysis

The study performed an analysis of the opening air strikes of Desert Storm many years ago, with a specific mind to what assets and resources were necessary to achieve the mission objective, using the “cost-per-effect” assessment model. 

The findings indicated that 41 aircraft were necessary to provide sweep-escort missions, suppression of enemy air defenses and then actual bombing attacks.